Gundam SEED: Twin's Fate Entwined
by Real Personal Trooper Type-0
Summary: What if a certain Lioness could not reach the safety of a Lifepod? What if she had to join the Ultimate Coordinator from the very beginning of his journey? What changes would this cause? Find out and see... Pairing KiraXCagalli (Incest, please do not flame).
1. Chapter 1: An Extra Passenger

_**Hello everyone, R-0 here with a new fanfiction. More details at the end!**_

_**WARNING: THIS FIC CONTAINS INCEST! IF YOU ARE NOT A FAN OR CANNOT TOLERATE IT, THEN PLEASE STOP READING. FLAMES ABOUT WILL NOT BE ADDRESSED!**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED or its respective materials. Believe me, if I did, Miguel would have survived, KiraXCagalli would be canon (I wouldn't have written that pairing off as siblings) and grunt suits like the GINN would have had more opportunities to shine.**_

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Chapter 1: An Extra Passenger

The Colony of Heliopolis is currently under attack by ZAFT Forces. A great majority of civilians had managed to successfully evacuate the Colony and escape to the lifepods while the Earth Alliance forces were being quickly decimated. Their Missile Trucks and TS-MA2 Moebius Mobile Armours no match for ZAFT's Mobile Suit: the ZGMF-1017 GINN. Their battleships had all been destroyed with the exception of the prototype battleship, the LCAN-01XA ArchangelThe only one who was remotely holding his own against these superior machines is Alliance Ace Mu La Flaga in his TS-MA2mod.00 Moebius Zero equipped with its GunBarrels.

Unfortunately, despite their efforts, the Alliance soldiers were unable to stop the ZAFT Invaders, comprised of Generic ZAFT Greens and Elite ZAFT Reds, from stealing three out of their five objectives: Five mobile suits built under "Project G". The mobile suits were:

The GAT-X102 Duel. Stolen by Yzak Joule.

The GAT-X103 Buster. Stolen by Dearka Elsman.

The GAT-X207 Blitz. Stolen by Nicol Amarfi.

The remaining two mobile suits, the GAT-X303 Aegis and GAT-X105 Strike, were currently being defended by the remaining Alliance soldiers from an assortment of ZAFT Greens and two ZAFT Reds by the name of Athrun Zala and Rusty Mackenzie. These soldiers were easily laying waste to the token number of Earth Alliance soldiers remaining.

Elsewhere, two young tennagers, boy and girl, were quickly retreating from the ongoing fight with much haste. The boy, named Kira Yamato, had the girl by the hand and was, for all intents and purposes, dragging the girl, still nameless, behind him. They eventually reached one of the few unused LifePod elevators.

"See? Some people have evacuated here." Kira assures the girl, giving her a reassuring smile. She does not seem to pay it any mind and seems lost in thought, a distressed and pensive expression are clear on her features. The Elevator's communicator beeps into life.

"Is there still someone out there?" A man's voice calls out.

"Yes!" Kira quickly responds, placing his finger on the intercom to answer him back, "A friend and I need to get in! Can you please let us in?" Kira queries.

"Two of you?"

"Yes!"

"We're full here." The man explains, "There are thirty-seven shelters in the left block, can't you make it there?" he asks. Kira quickly glances towards the destroyed area surrounding him as well as the firefight currently raging below him.

"Can you at least take my friend?" Kira pleads, "she's a girl!"

There is a brief pause before the man responds to Kira's request.

"All right!" He concede, "sorry!" The elevator's doors quickly slide open. Kira quickly turns towards the female.

"Please get in." He tells her. She regards him with a confused glance for a brief second before he grabs her by the shoulder and pushes her into the elevator.

"What are you?! I…" She protests and attempts to resist being placed in the elevator.

"Just get in!" Kira exclaims, "I'll go to the other side. I'll be fine. Hurr-" Immediately before he hits the button to send her to safety, he suddenly pulls her back out of the elevator and throws himself and herself, joined by the arm, back onto the large catwalk.

"Watch out!" He yells out as he crashes onto the ground with her in his arms, attempting to shield her from whatever was about to occur.

A large explosion erupted behind them right where the elevator was located, destroying the elevator as well as one of their few chances for survival…

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**Moments Before…**

One of the defending Alliance soldiers, named Mickal, grabs hold of one of their spare bazookas, hoping to decimate the ZAFT strike squad. Unfortunately, one of the ZAFT Green soldiers manages to spot him and fires a burst of Submachine Gun bullets. They accurately hit Mickal and blood spatters everywhere as he flies backwards, already dead.

"Mickal!" Murrue Ramius yells, quickly dispatching the ZAFT Green in retaliation.

However, his corpse still has one final action to undertake as his deceased hands manage to press on the trigger enough to launch the rocket while his dead body was in the process of falling to the ground. The rocket veers away from the firefight and heads directly for the Escape Elevator. Luckily, Kira managed to notice the oncoming rocket at the last second and pull himself and the girl away from the elevator and dodge the oncoming rocket which connected with the structure, causing it to explode and rendering the elevator completely unusable.

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**Back to present…**

Kira quickly stands back up and glances back at the ruined elevator, a solemn expression crosses his expression before he glances back to the girl lying on the floor and holds his hand out for her to take.

"Are you alright?" He asks, concern lacing his tone.

She doesn't respond for a few seconds as she still is looking at the ground before averting her attention to him. An annoyed look clear on her features. This is made apparent by the way her eyes have narrowed and eyebrows furrowed.

"Idiot!" She remarks. "You almost got me killed! You should have just left me alone and let me do what I wanted instead of chasing after me and dragging me here. Not try and save me! What, you think you're honourable or something?!" She responds harshly. Kira visibly flinches at her violent disposition and retracts his hand away from her, instead scratching the back of his head with it.

"Sorry," he apologises. "I just thought that you needed help escaping since you're not from around here."

"Yeah? Well, I can take care of myself without needing your help." She retorts.

"Yeah, but…" He looks back at her with an embarrassed smile, "it still wouldn't have been right to leave a pretty girl alone."

She looks at him, incredibly surprised, for a few seconds before she looks back down at the ground again, silent for a few moments.

"Honestly…" A few more moments of silence pass before she holds out her hand, "I'm Cagalli." Kira gives a quizzical look.

"P-pardon?" He asks.

"My name, dumbass. It's Cagalli, alright?" She explains.

"Oh…" He then regards her with a confused look. "Just Cagalli?"

"Just Cagalli." She answers. "You gonna take my hand or not?!" She asks aggressively. He quickly responds by grabbing her hand with his own.

"I'm Kira, Kira Yamato." He informs her.

"Well then, Kira…" she trails, "I guess we need to get out of here."

"I guess so," He responds, he quickly gestures towards the other end of the catwalk. "I think there are some other lifepods over the-"

The sound of an explosion interrupts him as he looks down towards the firefight again and takes in the killing and death. Cagalli does so to, however she has a much more solemn expression as she takes in the sight of the littered corpses and the completely untouched Mobile Suits, seemingly adding to how important these machines are.

_Father… Why? Why did you do this?! How could you do this?! How could you just allow this to happen!_

She is quickly broken out of her reverie as Kira quickly rushes to the side of the railing.

"Behind you!" He yells towards one of the defending Earth Alliance soldiers, a woman. She quickly turns around and shoots the ZAFT Green positioned on the rear catwalk, using up the last of her magazine. She looks up to her left to one of the higher platforms and takes in the sight of the boy and girl whom she had fired at earlier.

"The kids from earlier… What are they still doing here?" She is broken out of her verbal thoughts when one of her fellow soldiers is shot by a ZAFT Green. She quickly responds by dropping her rifle, pulling out her sidearm, diving to her right and shooting the soldier. She quickly gets back and directs her attention back towards the children.

"Come here!" She yells after them.

"Thank you, but I'm going to the shelters in the Left Block." He replies, "please ignore me!"

"There's nothing but a door there!" She informs him.

He regards her with a confused expression before an expression resounds from his right. Another entranceway to this sector explodes. Kira and Cagalli both fall over from the resounding shock. They both quickly get back up and unconsciously agree to head down the catwalk into the Mobile Suit bay.

"Over here!" Ramius calls out as she makes her way to the front of the Mobile Suit. Kira quickly wastes no more time and jumps over the platform and down to ground level. This surprises Ramius and Cagalli who expected him to break his legs from the height. Cagalli is not so willing to try it and instead runs over to the ladder at the end of the platform and starts to climb down.

Elsewhere, Athrun Zala and Rusty Mackenzie are the remaining two ZAFT soldiers attempting to steal the Two Mobile Suits, but are unfortunately pinned down by the Alliance soldier by the name of Hamana. Said Soldier manages to see an opening on Rusty Mackenzie and takes it, shooting the ZAFT Red directly in the head, shattering his helmet's visor and ending his life.

"Rusty!" Athrun yells in anguish at his friend's death. Enraged, he charges out of cover while firing his Submachine Gun at Hamana, successfully killing the soldier and avenging his friend's death.

"Hamana!" Ramius cries, aiming her handgun at the ZAFT Red. He is, unfortunately, too quick for her pivoting to his right and letting off a burst of rounds and successfully score a hit on her chest, causing her to fall down in pain.

Kira, out of concern for her, quickly makes his way onto the Mobile Suit to come assist her while Athrun, realising that he is out of ammo, brandishes his knife and uses his thrusters to charge after the wounded woman. It is only after Kira comes to the Ramius' side and Athrun is in range to attack her do they both completely freeze at each other's appearance.

"Athrun?"

"Kira?"

An explosion occurs that engulfs the rest of the facility in flames. Cagalli quickly detached herself from the ladder which did not have much height left and managed to get close enough to the Mobile Suits to not be harmed by the explosion. Meanwhile, the explosion does not affect Athrun or Kira as they are both still shocked at the sight of each other. Athrun lowers his knife and backs away while Kira stands back up. Ramius uses this moment of hesitation to fire her pistol in Athrun's direction, deterring him as he uses his thrusters to dash away in the direction of the neighbouring Mobile Suit. Ramius staggers up and throws Kira into the cockpit and follows suit. She is about to close the mobile suit before:

"Wait!"

Cagalli quickly clambers up on the Mobile Suit's feet and runs to the end of the machine, diving into the cockpit. Ramius quickly closes the cockpit and starts to move the Mobile Suit.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." She apologises to Ramius.

This is also true from Athrun who quickly embarked the neighbouring Mobile Suit and quickly activated it.

Both Mobile Suits began to rise from their berths as the fires engulfed the hangar. One carrying one boy while the other carries a woman, a boy and a girl.

What no one knows is that the destinies of both the boy and the girl shall be closely entwined with each other for the rest of this conflict to come…

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_**And that was the first chapter of my new fanfic "Gundam SEED: Twin's Fate Entwined", I hope you like the premise.**_

_**For those of you who have not yet cottoned onto the premise, it is quite simple: This fic is one big "What-If" Scenario surrounding the idea of Cagalli joining the Archangel crew from the very beginning of Gundam SEED as opposed to a Quarter way through. This is NOT a re-write of the canon. Minor changes will be made to the plot, but it will not be a complete reboot of the plot. SEED's plot is decent, in my opinion. Destiny was where plot was really poor. If I was to ever do a full re-write of an existing anime, I would definitely do Destiny.**_

_**Before any ask, Cosmic Era is not my favourite universe. Universal Century is. However, Cosmic Era has a much easier platformto create fanfics from… Metaphorically speaking, of course. I am not a raging Jesus Yamato fanboy who believes him to be the greatest Gundam Hero and the Strike Freedom is the greatest mecha of all time. No, that is not me at all. I am one of those who believed that Destiny was a massive waste of potential due to incompetent directing and storytelling. It had potential that was completely wasted.**_

_**Each chapter will mostly follow each episode of the anime with minor length changes here and there. Recap episodes will be discluded, of course. I will strive to write between Three Thousand Words and Five Thousand words per chapter. This is slightly shorter than Three Thousand Words, true, but please consider that this based at the immediate end of Phase 1 so I did not have much content to work with within the very first instance.**_

_**For any curious, the pairings will be: KiraXCagalli and AthrunXLacus. Let me re-iterate that they will still be canon siblings. If you are uncomfortable with Sibling love, then you are free to not read beyond this pilot chapter. I will not stop you. I will be deal with the incest thing in a manner I believe will help justify it. I was one of those who said "dick move, Fukuda ,dick move." When they gave us the half-assed excuse for killing the pairing of KiraXCagalli with the "twin excuse." I would have accepted that as an excuse had it been effectively used as a plot point within SEED or SEED Destiny. Unfortunately, it is never done so which only leads me to the conclusion that it was a half-assed excuse for Fukuda's wifey-poo to indulge in KiraXLacus Shipping. Yes, I dislike Lacus as she is one of the most transparent Mary Sue's in history and it sucks that she dragged Kira down into Mary Sue-dom along with her.**_

_**No, the M Rating does not necessarily mean Sexual Content. My story may or may not have this aspect so do not expecting one or the other. The M rating is there because I am a paranoid bastard about what qualifies as M and what does not.**_

_**I will also be giving a greater amount of attention and credit towards the grunt mechs of the series (GINN, Strike Dagger, Astray) as I am, very much, a fan of grunt mechs and was very much annoyed by their abysmal treatment in the Cosmic Era. This is one of the reasons why I do prefer Cosmic Era as it treats its grunt mechs VERY well (Please reference Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket for details). I have also decided to include one or two Mobile Suits that did not appear in the original anime. No, there will be no silly cross-over mecha stuff going on with what Mobile Suits appear in this fic. I really do not like the practice of taking a Mobile Suit from one universe and placing them in another where they don't belong, both in Fanfiction and in canon (looking at you ZAKU Warriors, GOUF Igniteds and DOM Troopers). There will not be many Original Mecha in this fanfic. (When I say this, I don't mean original Mobile Suits. I mean Mobile Suits that appear in canon may be customised or upgrade/modified in a way that makes an original design).**_

_**I do not know how often I will be able to update this fic. I am planning to release one other new Fairy Tail fanfic then alternate between this, "A Second Chance, New Hopes Arise OG 1" and the other Fairy Tail fic. I feel like saying this now that I have placed my other Infinite Stratos FanFics on hiatus for the time being as I simply do not feel satisfied with them as fanfics and, in the future, plan to completely re-write them. I apologise if I upset any people who were fans of those fanfics, but I simply feel like starting them over again would be ideal as I could do them better now.**_

_**Anyway, that concludes my Author Notes and I hope that you will come to enjoy this little fanfic that I conjured up in the back of my demented, messed-up little head.**_

_**R-0 Out!**_


	2. Chapter 2: Asset Gained

_**Hello everyone, R-0 here with this next chapter.**_

_**I have now decided to implement a little review response section at the start of each chapter. As you can guess, this is where I will address certain points made by reviewers. Those who I don't address will be those who I normally discuss these points with via PMs (you know who you are).**_

_**edboy4926: I am happy to see that you enjoyed the initial chapter. Regarding their relationship, I won't give out any spoilers, but I will say that the photo will play a key role in it.**_

_**worldwanderer2.0: I am happy that you share my thoughts and feelings on the matter regarding KiraXCagalli. When I was watching them, their chemistry felt natural and not forced at all and I could see that they cared for each other a great deal. Indeed, she is infinitely superior to the other two. I won't spoil what Cagalli will be piloting, that's something you will have to wait to see. You seemed to have misunderstood the basis of this fanfic, it is not a re-write of canon so elements from sidestories are not really going to be included. Don't get me wrong, I like the Astray series of Mobile Suits, but this story pretty much follows the canon to a T. I appreciate the suggestion but, and I say this in the nicest way possible, if I require help from the audience, I will ask.**_

_**thedarkpokemaster, Don 77, Narusaku fan 100: I am going to address these at once as all three of you made the same point regarding Flay. I am not going to lie and say that I like Flay because I don't, I hate her character. Despite this, I will try to not bash on Flay as I respect the empathetic nature of her character, she's one of the few characters in the Cosmic Era that I find believable. Her role in this fic, however, will be relatively minimal as her sub-plot revolved around Kira which is not going to happen in this fic. I will try and do what I can with her character, however, I cannot promise a lot.**_

_**Fireminer: Believe me; I would LOVE to erase Lacus from existence. But, as I stated, this is not a re-write and focuses only on the changes brought on by Cagalli's joining the Archangel early. There is only one other noticeable change that is going to occur that I shall not spoil. Also, as much as it pains me to say this, she does have use in SEED. It was only Destiny where I thought that she should have just pissed off as her sheer presence made things worse. As I have stated, Flay's role in this fanfic will be much less in comparison to the Original Series.**_

_**popcaga: I am pleased for you.**_

_**code R.R: I am happy that you have an interest in my fic.**_

_**Anyway, let's begin the next chapter.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not Own Gundam SEED or its respective materials.**_

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Chapter 2: Asset Gained

The Remaining civilians were still evacuating Heliopolis as the destruction continued. The remaining Moebius Mobile Armours were being mopped up by the pilot named Matthew while the pilot named Miguel Aiman was dealing with the remaining ground forces comprised of Infantry, Jeeps and Missile Trucks.

"A Level 8 Evacuation order has been issued for all of Heliopolis." The voice over the Colony's intercom called, "Residents are to make their to the closest shelter at once."

Among the remaining evacuating civilians who were unfortunate enough not to make to a Lifepod was Kira's entourage of friends. Sai Argyle, Toelle Koenig, KuzzeyBuskirk and Miriallia Haw who were seeking in desperation for some sort of safe place amid this chaos.

"What's going on?" A random civilian cried.

"Where are the shelters?!"

"Can't go! Try this route!"

As the four friends ran in a certain direction, they were immediately halted as an explosion resounded in front of them, a large cloud of smoke pillowing from it. This also paused several other nearby civilians also evacuating.

From the explosion, the grey coloured GAT-X105 Strike and GAT-X303 Aegis burst through the clouds. This caused the surrounding civilians to gasp in shock at the site of even more Mobile Suits than just the GINNs.

"There are more?!" One civilian exclaimed, confusing these prototypes as ZAFT weaponry (Technically, 4 out of 5 of these Mobile Suits are ZAFT's property now).

The Aegis landed next to Miguel's GINN. It responded by having its monoeye turning towards the new Mobile Suit.

"Athrun!" Miguel called to his fellow soldier, clearly joyous at their reunion.

"Rusty failed." Athrun stated. Miguel looked towards the other machine with surprise.

"What?" He said.

"An officer of the Earth Forces has boarded the other machine." Athrun explained to his comrade. He continues to watch as the Strike crudely lands on the ground and lumbers forward as if in an intoxicated state. Kira's friends as well as other civilians quickly run out of the way of this machine as it continues to shamble around.

Murrue continues to try and operate the Strike as efficiently as she can but to no avail as it continues to move around in the same manner. Kira is planted on her right side while Cagalli is on her left.

"Can't you move this thing any better than that?!" Cagalli exclaimed, "The thing's walking around like its drunk or something."

"I'm not the Strike's designated pilot!" Murrue exclaims. Luckily, she manages to use the Strike's scanners and several smaller screens appear on the main monitor. These images comprise of Miguel's GINN, Athrun's Aegis, the surrounding area that has been radically destroyed and…

"Sai! Tolle! Kuzzey!"Kira exclaims at the sight of his fleeing friends, leaning over Murrue and Cagalli to get a better look at them. Unfortunately, his moment of joy is short lived as Miguel suddenly lets off a burst of bullets from his Heavy Assault Machine Gun which don't hit the Strike. However, they do hit the ground right next to it, causing the Mobile Suit to stagger. During this moment, Miguel mounts his Machine Gun on the GINN's back skirt and brandishes its Heavy Sword. The GINN's monoeye moves to regard the Aegis behind it.

"Then I'll capture that machine!" Miguel declares, "You go ahead and leave here with that one." His GINN's eye turns back towards the Strike and starts to advance on it. Athrun opens his mouth to say something but stops himself and a pensive look graces his features.

"Kira?"Athrun thinks to himself, "No! It can't be! There's no way he could've been there."

He removes himself from his thoughts and lowers the Operating Keyboard and begins to look through the OS.

Meanwhile, Miguel's GINN continues to advance on the Lumbering, slow Strike, its three passengers look on in worry as it continues to advance on them.

The GINN goes for a slash on the Mobile Suit, however, misses as it dodges to the right to evade the attack. The GINN hovers there for a few moments as the sudden movement causes Kira and Cagalli to jerk around on the spot. This causes them to unfortunately fall into Murrue's field of vision and bang their heads together.

"OW!" Cagalli yells, rubbing her forehead to nurse the wound, "do you want to watch where you're going?! That hurt like a truck!"

"S-sorry" Kira apologises, also rubbing his head.

"Stay back!" Murrue shouts down to the two of them, "do you two want to die?"

"S-sorry…" Kira apologises again. Both he and Cagalli get back up to move to back to the side to Murrue, but then see the GINN charging for them, holding its Heavy Sword in a Two-Handed fashion. Both Kira and Cagalli yell in terror at the sight.

The GINN jumps into the air, ready to do a leaping slash. Murrue quickly reacts and hits the gold button on the console with large red letters saying "PHASE SHIFT" appearing above it. In that moment, the Strike's dull paint scheme is instead replaced with a bright red, blue and white colour scheme across the body. The Strike raises its arms to block the oncoming attack from the GINN. The Heavy Sword does nothing as it clashes with the arm, merely causing sparks to erupt from the clash. Kira, Cagalli and Athrun regard this with surprise.

"What?!" Miguel exclaims, clearly confused as to why his Sword did not simply cut through the Strike's arms like butter as it done to countless Moebius Mobile Armours.

"This Mobile Suit…" Kira trails, startled as Murrue lets out a cry of pain.

Miguel's GINN boosts away as the Strike lowers its Guard.

"What's going on?! What's with that's Mobile Suits armour?!" He asks confusedly. Athrun appears on his communicator screen.

"They're equipped with Phase Shift Armour." Athrun responds as the GINN lands back on the ground. "Once activated, a GINN's sabre is useless against it!"

Miguel looks back towards the Aegis as a Crimson Colour scheme engulfs the Mobile Suit. A pair of Missiles immediately come careening towards the Aegis who responds by letting off a volley of its head mounted CIWS, easily shredding the missiles apart. The Aegis then continues its volley of bullets by shreading apart the Missile Truck which had dared attack it.

"You get out of here!" Miguel commands Athrun, clearly not wanting to risk their trophy. "There's no reason for you to stick around!"

Athrun looks back towards the Strike Gundam. A memory of Kira as a little boy surfaces before he looks away with an aggravated expression. The Aegis boosters breathe into life as it flies away. Murrue, Kira and Cagalli watch as it does. Unfortunately, that moment is short lived as the Strike's alarm beeps into life, alerting the three to the charging GINN.

"Watch out!" Cagalli yells.

Murrue responds to the GINN's charge by using its own CIWS to attack the GINN. Unfortunately, all of the shots miss the Mobile Suit by a large margin. This is something which Kira picks up on.

"This Mobile Suit isn't even…"

Miguel lets out a scoff of amusement, "Superior armour alone won't save you!" He yells as he slashes at the Strike who dodges the blow. Miguel quickly spins around to target the Strike again with another slash. The Strike's three occupants brace for the impact as Miguel slashes across the Strike's chest, causing the Mobile Suit to stagger backwards. Miguel follows this combo up with another charge. "You ain't got any movement!" is what he yells as connects with the Strike again in a downwards slash, striking the Mobile Suit on the shoulder. This blow is too much for the Strike as it flies backwards and straight into the building behind , Cagalli and Murrue all let out a grunt of pain from being jerked around so much.

Several nearby civilians are running away from the battle including Kira's entourage of friends. Something that he picks up when the left view-screen zooms in on him despite Cagalli partially blocking the image.

"A Natural piloting a Mobile Suit?" Miguel exclaims, "don't make me laugh!" He shouts with a cocky tone. He advances on the Strike again, sword at the ready, as the Mobile Suit backs away like a scared puppy.

It's in this moment that Kira realises how close he is to his friends and, as the GINN's sword thrusts towards them, he quickly dives for the controls and quickly makes the Strike duck beneath the oncoming slash and ram into the enemy Mobile Suit, causing the machine to careen backwards as Miguel yells out in surprise as his GINN smashes onto the ground away from the Strike.

Kira's friends look on in surprise at the retaliation as he checks to make sure that they are safe. Meanwhile, Cagalli and Murrue look at the boy in surprise.

"You're a…" Murrue trails.

"I knew it!" Cagalli yells.

"There are still people around here!" Kira complains while accessing the Mobile Suit's systems via the console, "If you're going to operate this thing, then put it to some good use!"

The GINN begins to get back on its feet as Miguel grunts in annoyance as the machine slowly lumbers back up. Meanwhile, Kira has accessed the Strike's OS and regards it with annoyance.

"This is ridiculous!" He remrarks, "how do you expect to operate a Mobile Suit as complicated as this with an this kind of OS!"

"It can't be helped! The OS was never completed!" Murrue explains.

Miguel eventually manages to get his GINN back up straight and looks towards the Strike, anger gracing his features.

"Why you…!" He grinds through his teeth in annoyance.

Kira quickly turns towards Murrue at the sight of the GINN righting itself.

"Please move!" She regards him with a confused look, "Hurry!" he asserts himself. She quickly moves out of the pilot chair and into the position Kira was previously, with some shifting here and there, as he grabs hold of the Operating Keyboard and sets to work on the OS. Murrue regards him with a look again as he continues his work, his eyes moving incredibly quickly as he processes the information.

"This kid…" she thinks.

"Hey, Kira!In front!"Cagalli alerts him as the GINN assaults him again with its sword drawn. He quickly ceases his work and utilizes the Vulcans. This causes the GINN to slow down and stagger from the volley, eventually making a full stop.

"What?!" Miguel yells with confusion. He quickly recovers and slashes at the Strike. It easily evades the slash and punches the GINN in the face, flinging it backwards into a building as Miguel yells out in 's friends continue to watch the onslaught.

"Take the calibrations and reset the Zero Moment Point and CPG" Kira mutters to himself as he continues work on the Strike's OS, "The connect the Control Module directly to the Molecular Ion Pump and reconstruct the neural linkage network!" He continues to mutter, "Renew meta-active field, reactivate feed forward controls, convey function! Adjust Coriolis deviation, connect to motion routines!System online, initiate bootstrap!"

Miguel gets back up once again, "What's happened to that guy? He's suddenly moving better!" He wonders with confusion. He gives up on his Heavy Sword and mounts it back on his Left Skirt and re-equips his Machine Gun. He lets off a burst off automatic fire which connect to the Strike. While the Strike is unharmed, the shockwaves can be felt in the cockpit as its occupants grunt in pain. Kira quickly boosts into the air in order to evade the oncoming shots from the GINN. Miguel gives chase into the air and continues to let off bursts of Machine Gun fire at the Strike.

"Weapons!"Kira mutters in relief as he finds the file titled "OFFENSIVE" which reads only two weapons: The Vulcans and…

"Armour Schneider?"Kira mutters, "that's it?!"

He wastes no time and quickly draws the two Assault Knives from the Strike's left and right skirt. Miguel's GINN lands and continues to rain fire on the Strike as the Strike lands back on the ground and continues to evade the bullets.

"You damn pest!" Miguel yells in annoyance.

"Not here!" Kira exclaims as he boosts the Strike directly towards the GINN when, all of a sudden…

The Strike veers to the left and tumbles over behind some buildings. This action confuses Miguel as he momentarily pauses from his firing to regard what just happened.

"What the hell's going on?!" He wonders, "is this bastard trying to confuse me or something?!"

Little does he know what actually happened. Out of nowhere, Cagalli suddenly grabbed hold of one of the Control Sticks and roughly yanked it in one direction, sending the Strike careening behind sufficient cover. Kira quickly regains himself as he looks at Cagalli with confusion and anger, the same as Murrue.

"What did you do that for, Cagalli?!" He asks her with an aggressive tone.

"You idiot!" she yells, "don't you know that all Military Weapons have a Self Destruct in them?!" He looks at her with confusion before turning in the other direction and looking at Murrue who seems to have had a look of realisation.

"She's right… Then…"

"You would have gotten way too close to that thing to use those knives and put yourself in range of that!" Cagalli explains her actions, "ZAFT are willing to spare a cheap GINN if it means damaging a threat like this!"

"She's right." Murrue confirms. "So what do we do?"

Kira sits there for a few moments before he has a look of realisation.

"Miss, are the schematics for the Strike on the computer?" Kira asks Murrue.

"Of course they are."

"And the Self-destruct mechanisms location is also there?"

"Yes… But what are you getting at?" She inquires.

"It's a gamble, but if the Mechanism on the GINN is located in a similar position to this Mobile Suit, I may be able to disable it." He explains.

"WHAT?!"Cagalli yells, "that's a big-ass chance to take!"

"It's all we got!"

Kira quickly moves from behind the buildings as a burst of bullets pass clean through the building. Kira is, once again, face to face with Miguel's GINN.

"Thought you could try and confuse me, Natural?!" Miguel yells, "I'm gonna kick your ass, now!" He aims his Machine Gun at the Mobile Suit and pulls the trigger, unfortunately; only the clicking sound can be heard.

"Dammit, I'm out of ammo!"

"Quickly, Miss! You need to direct me to the schematics!" He looks at Murrue only to see that she has fallen unconscious from blood loss. What makes this even worse is that the LOW POWER warning suddenly beeps into life as the Strike, once again, becomes a dull grey.

"Dammit!" Kira regards the girl to his other side. "Cagalli, I need your help!"

"What with?"

"Since he's out of ammo, he's going to charge us again with the sword. When he does, simply squeeze this trigger," He taps his finger on one of the triggers on the Joystick," and don't let go! You'll keep shooting vulcans at him hopefully long enough for me to find the schematic."

"Ok…"

"You got that?!"

"I said I did, alright?!"

"Ok." He detached his hands from the controls and began scouring through the Strike's OS in search of the fabled schematics while Cagalli was at the ready.

"Alright, to hell with this!" Miguel yells in frustration as he throws his Machine Gun away, which lands in another nearby ruined building, and pulls out his Heavy Sword, "Your armour's gotta drop soon enough!" He ignites his boosters ready to charge at the Strike. Luckily, Cagalli's at the ready as she begins to pepper the GINN with Vulcan rounds which cause it to not be able to boost forwards and instead only stagger on its feet towards the unmoving Strike.

Closer…

"Kira, any second now! This bastard's relentless!"

Closer…

"I'm in the right area, now where is that file?!"

Closer…

"Oh shit!" Cagalli yells, " Kira, I'm out!"

Miguel does not waste the opportunity as the Strike's onslaught of bullets ceases and charges at the Strike with thrusters fully ignited.

"You're mine natural!" Miguel yells.

"KIRA!"

A screen appears on the Mobile Suit's computer with what looks to be the details of the Strike's body. Kira quickly glances over it, looking for the Mechanism.

"I got it!"

As the GINN is about to slice clean through the Strike's cockpit in a downward motion, its arms holding the sword behind it, Kira quickly grabs hold of the controls and runs one of the Knives into the GINN's neck, completely immobilising it while running the other knife through the top right part of the GINN's chest. The GINN hovers there lifeless for a few seconds until the GINN's hands suddenly slacken and let go of the Heavy Sword, the large object clanging on the ground behind it. The arms numbly fall to its side like piece of jelly. Its monoeye dimming.

"Hydro not responding." Miguel mutters, "Multi-drive system offline!" He quickly releases his belt restraints and pulls the lever to his right to activate the Self-Destruct. The timer appears on screen, as normal, and Miguel quickly pops the hatch and boosts away with his Thruster Pack. He quickly turns back expecting to see the disabled GINN explode and looks to see that… nothing has happened… The GINN still stands their like a lifeless doll.

"What the hell?!" He yells in annoyance, "why didn't the self-destruct work?! Is it broke or something?!" He then has a look of realisation,"Le Creuset'sgonna have my ass when he finds out that I let one of our GINNs fall into their hands!" He clutches his hand into a fist in annoyance before quickly flying away. As he flies away, one thought leaves his mind.

"I'll get you for this embarassment, Natural! If it's the last thing I do!"

Meanwhile, Cagalli and Kira both breathe a sigh of relief at not being victim to a self-destructing Mobile Suit. Their breaths exhausted and ragged after the intense battle.

"It… worked…" Cagalli managed to say.

"Yeah… it did…" Kira agreed, he looked at Cagalli and smiled a little, "thanks for the help."

She smiles in response, "don't mention it."

* * *

**Meanwhile…**

Several shards an assorted objects were floating around in dark, desolate corridor. This was corridor was littered not only with these objects, but with the corpses of Alliance Personnel drifting through it, their blood also floating in the air as small bubbles.

Ensign Natarle Badgiruel had just woken from unconsciousness after drifting into one of the nearby walls, rousing her from sleep. Unfortunately, she was treated to the rather gruesome sight of one of her deceased comrades dirtied and bloodied. As she drifts back to the ground, she covers her mouth as if appalled by the sight. However, she immediately snaps out of it and glances around, one thought crossing through her mind which she gives thought to:

"The Ship… The Archangel, where is it?"

She quickly pushes the corpse away from her and heads into the opposite direction, looking for the aforementioned ship.

* * *

**Meanwhile…**

The battle outside of the Colony was still raging as the Marseille-III Class was under brutal assault by Olor's GINN who, in this moment, had managed to disable the Transport Ship's engines right as it was careening straight towards Heliopolis. Olor simply flies away as he knows that he has already bested this ship.

"I can't steer it!" The Marseille's pilot yells in terror, desperately trying to make any sort of manoeuvre possible that could prevent their inevitable fate. Unfortunately, it ultimately accomplishes nothing as its Captain cries out in terror as the ship collides with the side of the Colony, bending its front at an impossible angle before exploding. In this moment, Olor's GINN is intercepted by Mu La Flaga and his Moebius Zero, who lets out a growl of frustration.

"Can't we do anything about this difference in power?!" He exclaims as he deploys his Gunbarrels to take down Olor's machine who still encircles the Mobile Armour and continuously lets off shots with his Machine Gun. Unfortunately, Mu manages to land a well placed shot which directly hits the Machine Gun, destroying it outright. Olor quickly draws his Heavy Sword, ready to charge at the Moebius Zero. Unfortunately, Mu manages to land another lucky hit and blasts the GINN in the shoulder, causing its entire arm (and weapon) to be blown off. Olor quickly dashes away in the hopes of escaping the fight.

Onboard the Nazca-Class Destroyer codenamed _Vessalius_, Rau Le Creuset and Captain Fredrik Ades were watching the battle until the Communications Officer piped up.

"Olor's Suit has been heavily damaged," he informed the two men, "he's making an emergency return!"

"Firefighting unit, to B deck!" He commands over the tannoy.

"Olor's been hit?!" Ades queries with an incredulous tone, "in a battle like this?"

"There appears to be a rather annoying bug flying around." Le Creuset interjects.

"Huh?" Ades asks, turning towards Le Creuset in confusion for a moment before another message turns back around in alert.

"Laser beacon from Miguel Aiman received!" The Communication Officer yells out, "It's an emergency!"

"If it is working well enough to cause Miguel to lose his unit…" Le Creuset trails. He gets out of chair and prepares to leave the bridge, "all the more reason why we cannot ignore this last one." He states.

* * *

**Back in Heliopolis…**

Natarle has found her way into one of the Control Rooms, all of the area was as black as sin as shards of the Colony floated around her.

"Anybody!" She cries out, "is there anybody there?!" She halts for a moment as a tattered and torn Captain's hat floats directly in front of her. She grabs it and squeezes it harshly as tears begin to pour out of her eyes.

"Damn!" She chokes out between her sobs, "Aren't there any survivors?!"

A banging from one of the bulkheads beneath her alerts her as the door is kicked open and the Alliance Soldier of Arnold Neumann who is holding a flashlight.

"Ensign Badgiruel," he addresses her with relief as he shines his light on her, "I'm glad your okay!"

* * *

**Back outside…**

Three flares, two green and one red, had just been launched indicating for the remaining ZAFT pilots to retreat back to the Gamow and Vessalius. This is exactly what they do as the remaining GINNs retreat as Mu La Flaga watches.

"They're retreating?" He exclaims, "but there's still something…" He narrows his eyes, "what is it?" He quickly engages his thrusters and takes off in another direction.

Meanwhile, Le Creuset is closing in on him in his ZGMF-515 CGUE.

"Do you sense me, the way that I sense you?" He wonders out loud, "Some unlucky karma, don't you think, Mu la Flaga?"

* * *

**Back inside the Colony with the Strike…**

Murrue Ramius manages to finally awaken after falling unconscious from blood loss. Kira and his male entourage of friends were investigating the Mobile Suit with vested interest. Cagalli was stood with her back against one of the shelter's poles with a brooding expression while Miriallia was sat next to Murrue's now awakening form.

The Strike was knelt down in front of the shelter that Murrue was lying underneath. The disabled GINN was lying, on its back, directly behind the Strike with it's recovered Heavy Machine Gun and Heavy Sword lying on either side of it.

There was an awkward moment when Kira introduced Cagalli to his friends as they all made the same mistake of believing she was a boy, a fact that clearly insulted her as she gave them the same violent retort she had done with Kira.

With a somewhat pained moan, Murrue managed to open her eyes and greeted to the sight of Miriallia who returned her look with a cheerful smile.

"I see you're awake." She looks towards Kira to call him over, "Kira!"

As Kira walks towards her, Murrue holds her head in pain.

"Oh, you'd better stay still for now." He assures her. They both share a silent look as Kira looks guiltily at the ground.

"I'm sorry," he apologises, "I kinda got carried away during that fight and didn't focus on escaping." Miriallia quickly returned after walking away for a few moments with a canteen in her hand.

"Care for some water?" She asked Murrue as she gestured the canteen towards her.

"Thank you." Kira helps her up so that she can take a long gulp of water until something catches her attention.

"This is awesome, the so-called Gundam!"

This statement alerts Murrue as she ceases her drinking and looks towards Kira's friends who are investigating the Mobile Suit.

"Does it move, or doesn't it?"

"Guy's stop playing with it!" Sai yells up to Toelle and Kuzzey who were currently interacting with the cockpit. Tolle quickly clambered back out.

"Why'd it turn Grey?" Kuzzey wondered.

"Maybe it's main battery ran out or something?" Tolle answered.

"Get away from that machine!" Murrue yells out at them. They all turn towards her and are shocked when a bullet clangs next to them on the Strike's chest, causing them to duck their heads in fear. Murrue continues to hold up her sidearm as she stands up on starts to walk towards them.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Kira cries out as he runs to her side in an effort to stop her, "Please stop this!"

"Those are the guys who carried you out while you where unconscious!" Kira explains. Unforunately, his attempt at defusing the situation seems to fail as she turns around and aims her gun on him.

"I'm grateful to you for saving my life." She explains, "but that thing is a top Military Secret! It's not something that civilians should be touching thoughtlessly!"

Suddenly, Cagalli walks in front of Kira and puts a protective arm in front of him. Murrue hesitates for a moment before focusing her gun on Cagalli.

"This is a funny way to show gratitude." She comments, "Pointing a gun at the guy who not only saved your life, but prevented this thing from falling into ZAFT's hands!" She responds violently. Kira suddenly pushes her arm back down to her side and shakes his head at her.

"It's alright." He states.

"Like hell it is!" She responds hotly.

"She's only doing her job, can you let it go?" He asks.

Cagalli regards him for a few more seconds before sighing and dropping away from Kira a few paces as well as showing a less offensive stance.

"Fine…"

"Regardless if I should show my gratitude, what you were doing can be considered criminal!" Murrue states.

"Give me a break!" Tolle whispers, "it was Kira piloting it a moment ago!" His comment was met with Murrue turning her gun on his, causing him to gasp and raise his hands into the air. Murrue gestures the three boys over next to Miriallia, Kira and Cagalli.

"Stand over there." She commands. They don't hesitate in the slightest and immediately walk over to stand next to the others.

"Tell me your names."

"Sai Argyle."

"Kuzzey Buskirk."

"Tolle Koenig."

"Miriallia Haw."

"Cagalli."

"Your full name."

"What are you gonna do? Shoot a civilian girl because she didn't want to tell you her full name?"

Murrue pauses for a moment before focusing her sight on Kira, who stands there motionless for a few moments before answering.

"Kira Yamato."

"I'm Murrue Ramius." She declares, "An officer with the Earth Forces."

"I hate to say this, but I cannot allow you to leave."

"What?" They all say.

"Regardless of how it happened, you have still seen a military secret." Murrue explains to them, "Until I reach the proper authorities and it is determined how the situation shall be handled, you have no choice but to remain here with me at all times."

"You're kidding!" Sai complains.

"You gotta be kidding me." Tolle added, "Are you outta your mind, that's ridiculous."

"You will do as I say!" Murrue asserts.

"We're citizens of Heliopolis, we're neutral!" Sai exclaims, "We have nothing to do with the military!"

"He's right!" Kuzzey concurs, "besides, what are the Earth Forces even doing here on Heliopolis in the first place? That doesn't make sense in the first place!"

"Right!" Tolle agrees, "That's how all this happened to begin with!"

Their outbursts were silenced as Murrue let off a couple of Pistol shots into the air, as if to assert who has the other at gunpoint. She then aims her pistol back on the group of friends.

"Be quiet!" She demands, "you kids do not understand anything!"

"By declaring neutrality and saying you have nothing to do with this, you can distance yourself from the issue." She rehearses, "You don't seriously believe that, do you?"

"The Earth's most vital secret was here and you have seen it." She states, "that is the reality you face."

"That was pretty rough." Sai complains.

"It may be pretty rough" Murrue responds, "But we're at war. Between Earth and The PLANTS. Between Coordinators and Naturals."

"WHO WERE LIVING PEACEFULLY TOGETHER ON THIS COLONY!" A voice yelled out. Kira, his friends and Murrue all turned to see Cagalli staring at Murrue with an extremely angered expression.

"What…?" Murrue trails.

"It may be true that you, as Naturals, are fighting Coordinators." Cagalli begins, "but don't think that bullshit works on civilian Naturals and Coordinators! We have managed to live together for years without putting a bullet in each other's heads! Hell, you were SAVED by a Coordinator!"

"Cagalli-"

"I'm finished, Kira." Cagalli cuts him off, "I'll play the prisoner for now, but don't feed that sort of crap to Naturals and Coordinators who have managed to co-exist all this time. Just remember that your life was saved by one of your so called enemies."

"ORB may have managed to achieve some kind of stability, but the rest of the world isn't so lucky." Murrue simply says. As much as she does not want to say it out loud, she does believe that the basis for the war is stupid as she has easily managed to get along with a Coordinator no problem.

* * *

**Back with Rau and Mu...**

Rau is hiding behind some cover as he has spotted the enemy Mobile Armour slowly making its way inside Heliopolis. Mu can sense that there is some kind of familiar presence very close to him and instantly notices it when Rau's CGUE dives out of its hiding place and fires a few shots at his Mobile Armour. Mu quickly boosts forward to dodge the oncoming shots.

"Bastard!" Mu yells, "is that you, Rau Le Creuset?!"

He quickly deploys his Gunbarrels to attempt an assault on the CGUE. However, Rau easily dodges the attacks, continuing to fire on the inferior Mobile Armour.

"You're always getting in my way, Mu La Flaga!" Rau responds, "though we probably share the same opinion!"

He ceases his fire at the Mobile Armour and quickly turns and flies into the entrance into Heliopolis. Mu lets out a moan of frustration as he reconnects his Gunbarrels.

"He's gone into Heliopolis!"

Wasting no time, he ignites his boosters and gives chase.

* * *

**Back with Natarle…**

"The only survivors are the few of us aboard the ship during the explosion." Neumann informs Natarle as she sets foot on the Archangel's bridge, "but the few of us are factory workers" he adds at the last second.

"What's the present situation?" Natarle queries, "What happened to the ZAFT Vessels?"

"I have no idea." Neumann responds, "We have our hands full just confirming things around us." He explains.

Natarle reaches the front console on the bridge and activates the Ship's primary power, causing the once dim bridge to illuminate with life. A screen detailing the Archangel's damage appears. Luckily, the majority of systems register as green while a minority are red.

"This Archangel is quite the ship," Natarle comment, "it'll take more than this to sink it."

"However, the harbour exit is blocked by a heap of rubble," Neumann informs Natarle, "we're completely trapped."

Natarle then interacts with Radio System in the hopes of establishing some kind of contact with others. Unforunately, a static-like screen still appears. Natarle gives a gasp of realisation.

"The airwaves are still jammed , but…" She begins to say, "Then this was a diversion? ZAFT's true target was Morgenroete?!" Nuemann gives a little gasp in response.

"Damn!" Natarle cries with desperation, "what's the situation over there?!"

"What happened to the G-Weapons?" She wonders, "this doesn't tell me a thing!" She holds her head down in an almost defeated like fashion.

"05…rike… here… Forces… respond…" They both gasp at the voice over the radio. They may have some hope after all.

* * *

**Back at the Strike…**

"X105 Strike here, Earth Forces, please respond!" Kira continues to call over the Radio Headset, desperately hoping that someone would reply, "Earth Forces, please respond!" His only reply was static, he responds to it with a solemn look.

The sound of two large supply truck then alert him as he gets out of the Mobile Suit to see Sai Argyle has arrived with the Vehicle that Murrue had sent him after. Cagalli was driving the other vehicle which was a large flatbed truck. Miriallia had decided to stay behind and watch Murrue. Sai quickly disembarks the vehicle and runs up to the group's position.

"The Number five trailer you asked for," He turned around to look back at the Vehicle, which Tolle and Kuzzey were stood next to, clearly exhausted "that's the one right?"

"Yes, thank you." Murrue responds.

"And?" He asks, "what do you want us to do after this?"

"Get the Striker Pack." Murrue answers, still holding her bandaged arm in pain, "Once that's done, Kira, try contacting them again one more time."

"Okay." says Kira as he walks towards the Mobile Suit to try his luck again. Cagalli disembarks the other truck and shouts over to Murrue.

"What's this one for?" She asks.

"You and the others need to fasten the GINN and its weapons onto the Flatbed. If the Colony vacuums, we'll lose it."

"How am I supposed to get a big thing like that on the truck?"

"Kira can help you." Murrue answers, "he'll carry the GINN and its weapons onto the Flatbed and all you need to do is fasten it down with controls."

* * *

**Back with Mu and Rau…**

Rau just flew out of cover and opened fire on the Moebius Zero. The Mobile Armour is able to dodge the oncoming bursts of fire from the CGUE. Mu lets out a groan of frustration.

"Why, in a place like this?!" He exclaims as he begins to fire shots of his Linear Gun, the yellow beam missing the White Mobile Suit as it strafes to the right and instead colliding with the hangar doors behind it, causing them to explode. Mu flies straight through it and is unfortunately greeted with more burst of Machine Gun fire from the CGUE as it flies backwards. Mu, once again dodges the shots and attempts to acquire a lock. Unforunately, the CGUE flies behind even more cover. Mu lets out a grunt of frustration at this.

"I'd be glad if you disappeared right about now, Mu!" Rau says as he boosts out of his hiding space and manages to land a direct hit on the Moebius Zero's top Gunbarrel, causing Mu to deploy them all and eject the damage one, less they cause a chain reaction. He retreats in an opposite direction as Rau gives chase.

* * *

**On the Archangel…**

"Launch the ship?" Nuemann asks incredulously, "that's impossible with the number of people we have!" He tries to reason.

"If you time to argue, spend it on finding a way to do it!" Natarle rebuts him, she learns forward while adopting a stern expression, "Morgenroete could still be under attack, you know!"

The door opens and the three Alliance Soldiers known as Jackie Tonomura, Romero Pal and Dalida Lolaha Chandra II as Natarle continues her speech.

"Are you suggesting we remain here and ignore what is happening there?" The three soldiers all enter the bridge.

"I brought them!" Jackie chirps up, alerting Natarle to their presence.

"Take your seat!" She commands, as she looks back to them, "Just do as the computer instructs you!"

"Yes ma'am!" They all reply as Romero and Dalida enter the two back-to-back seats behind her while Jackie goes to sit in the Co-Pilot's chair.

"Those ZAFT Vessels are still out there!" He contines to argue, "we're in no position to fight!"

"I know that!" She responds, turning back to him, "Prepare to fire Assault Cannons as we activate the ship!"

"You can do that, can't you, Chief Petty Officer?"

He looks at her for a moment before sitting in the pilot's chair and swivelling back around to face the front.

"Begin takeoff sequence!" She commands, "due to the urgency, we'll omit C-30 to L-21 from the process!"

"Main power, online!"

The countdown timer for takeoff starts for the Archangel as several status readings pop up on-screen.

"Output increase stable." Jackie declares, "450 seconds to required rating."

"That's too long!" Natarle complains, "what's the status of the conduits to Heliopolis?"

"They're unharmed!" Jackie lets out a gasp of surprise.

"Draw power from them!" Natarle continues to order, "Conduit online! Relay power to accumulator!"

"Confirming connection! Flow stable, twenty seconds to required rating!" The timer changed from 450 seconds to 20 seconds. The crew than began going through all systems.

"Life Support Systems satisfactory."

"CIC online"

"Weapon systems online. FCS contact."

"Magnetic field chamber and pellet dispenser idling stable."

"Holding external shock dampener at maximum output."

"Contact main power. Engine stable."

"All Archangel systems online. Preparations for takeoff complete!"

"Seal all airtight bulkheads!" Natarle commands, "All hands, be prepared for sudden impacts and damage to the ship."

"Proceed slowly. Archangel, take off!"

The ship's engines roar into life as the White Battleship slowly starts to move forward through the Debris-ridden hangar. The Archangel's Launch bay doors open as the "Lohengrin" Positron Blaster Cannon protrudes out and begins charging.

* * *

**Rau and Mu…**

Rau continues to evade to evade Mu's attempt at scoring a hit as he dodges every shot from the Moebius Zero's Gunbarrels and Linear Gun. He's quick enough to be able to approach the remaining Gunbarrel and crush it with his CGUE'S feet leaving Mu's only weapon being the single Linear Gun mounted on the Moebius Zero. Mu, once again, fires a couple of shots with his Linear Gun which are still unable to hit him.

* * *

**Kira…**

Kira quickly manoeuvres the Strike in front of the Supply truck with its back towards it. The top of the trailer pulls open to reveal it's content inside. A standard Power pack which appeared to mount on the back. A green shoulder pad comprised of a 120MM Anti-Ship Gun which looked like a Gatling Gun as well as two 350 MM Gun Launchers. Lastly (and most prominently), the "Agni" 320 MM Hyper Impule Beam Cannon. Kira climbed out of the cockpit of the Strike.

"Which is the power pack?" He queries Murrue loudly so that she can hear him.

"The Weapons and Power Pack are together in one unit!" She explains, "Mount the whole unit!"

Meanwhile, Mu is still desperately trying to evade the relentless CGUE.

"The evacuation orders are still in effect, I guess." Miriallia randomly says.

"I wonder if my father and the others evacuated safely." Sai wonders. Kuzzey lets out a long sigh.

"I wanna hurry up and go home!" He whines.

They are broken out of their reverie when a large explosion from the inside of one of the skyward Maintenance shafts occurs and alerts them. From the explosion, Rau's CGUE flies into Heliopolis followed closely by Mu's battered Moebius Zero. The CGUE's monoeye looks towards where the Strike is sitting.

"So that's it?" He thinks out loud. He also quickly notices the GINN tethered onto the Flatbed truck and concludes that that must be Miguel's disabled GINN.

"The last unit?" Mu also wonders.

Rau changes the direction of his CGUE and instead heads straight for the Strike. He gets very close before he has to fly away as Mu's Zero heads straight for him. He still kicks up dust as the wind causes Kira's friends to hold their hands up to block it.

"Mount the equipment!" Murrue yells as she runs towards them, hand on wound, "hurry!"

Mu keeps Rau's CGUE busy as he continues to fire at the machine with his Linear Gun. Rau also returns fire with his heavy Machine Gun. Kira quickly starts programming the Strike to successfully integrate with the Striker Pack.

Unfortunately, Rau manages to flank Mu, draws his Heavy Sword, and charges straight for him. Luckily, Mu manages to spot him, unfortunately, it is too late as, while he pivots his Mobile Armour upwards to get a shot, Rau quickly slices the Linear Gun in half, rendering the Moebius Zero defenceless.

"What?!" Mu cries as Rau smirks at his success. He does not proceed to finish him off and, instead, continues to charge at the inactive Strike.

"I'll sink you now while I have the chance!"

Kira lets out a cry of terror as the CGUE gets closer. Fortunately, the Striker pack is finally attached and Kira activated the Phase Shift armour, once again colouring the Mobile Suit. It quickly stands up, ready to face the enemy.

**Archangel…**

"Fire assault cannons as we reach maximum battle speed!" Natarle commands.

The "Lohengrin" Positron Cannons both breathe into life as an intense red beam erupts from both of them, blowing open the hangar doors.

"What?" Rau wonders as the large explosion distracts him from his prey, turning his CGUE to the massive explosion to take in the sight of the Archangel bursting through the explosion.

Kira hesitates as he also takes in the sight of the White Battleship that may have just saved their lives.

* * *

_**Well… that took a lot longer than I thought it would.**_

_**I really struggled to just write all of the canon scenes (especially the dialogue-centric ones), but do not worry, this will change in a few more episodes as it starts branching out.**_

_**So there was chapter 2. Some minor extra pieces of dialogue here and there as compliments of Cagalli, but I suppose the biggest change was the GINN only being disabled and not destroyed… I wonder what role that will play…**_

_**Oh well… You'll find out soon enough.**_

_**R-0 Out!**_


	3. Chapter 3: One Fate Changed

_**Hello everyone, R-0 here and back with this next chapter. But first:**_

_**Let's answer some reviews!**_

_**thedarkpokemaster: As I said, I will do my best to try and create something for Flay, but I cannot promise a lot.**_

_**code R.R: I wrote that scene in because I believe that Cagalli that would not stand there and take Murrue's "us against them" speech when she has lived with the "enemy" all her life.**_

_**edboy4926: You will just have to wait and see what my intentions are with the GINN.**_

_**popcaga: I'm updating it now, aren't I?**_

_**TheSkyKing: Nice to see that you are having an open mind about this pairing.**_

_**Ayatane Elemia: As I have already stated, Flay will have a less prominent role in this version. As for what her plot is… wait and see. I am not in the business of dishing out spoilers.**_

_**Don 77: I am happy that you think that I am characterising Cagalli correctly.**_

_**Kevinrock8899: Nice to see that you accept that Lacus is one of, if not the, worse Mary Sue in history, rivalling the original Mary Sue, in my opinon.**_

_**NaruSaku fan 100: I am going to have to disagree with you about Flay. Her death was necessary as it pushed Kira over the edge and gave him what he needed to defeat Rau. If she had stayed through to Destiny, she would have gotten her character butchered alongside the other originals. Please do keep your theories to yourself as it may cause spoilers. Regarding your planned fanfic, I say do what you feel is appropriate as KiraXCagalli works either way, in my opinion. Write it the way you want to, not how someone says you should.**_

_**Fireminer: You're welcome. I only referred to the GINN's Heavy Sword as a Sabre because that's how the Subtitles refer to it. I don't think it's a Claymore, personally, and just consider it be a normal LongSword. I am aware of the Assault Type and I did christen it for a while, however, that idea was dropped for reasons which shall be revealed later down the line. Pretty much just trust me when I say that I am a pretty big Gundam nerd and am aware of almost all of the Mobile Suits with the exception of some REALLY obscure ones. As I stated in chapter 1's author notes, the M rating is there simply because I am a paranoid bastard. Though I do think being impaled by a giant shield and having your head torn off (Tolle) probably qualifies as an M rating. As for THAT… I can only say that I may or may not include it.**_

_**worldwanderer2.0: It is somewhat depressing how little KiraXCagalli there is compared to KiraXLacus and AsuCaga. As I have already stated, just wait and see what plans I have for the GINN. It is true that this will not deviate much from the overall plot and is really only influenced by Cagalli joining them early and one other change that shall be revealed this chapter… Don't worry, your KiraXCagalli will be fulfilled.**_

_**Anyway, to the chapter!**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED or its respective materials.**_

* * *

Chapter 3: One Fate Changed

The Archangel continued to soar through the air as Rau cursed his fate for having to face down this new battleship and missing out on his chance to finish of Mu and the new mobile suit. The bridge crew were furiously at work trying to make heads or tails out of what has occurred in the colony.

"We're inside the Colony's interior!" Nuemann informs the bridge crew.

"Morgenroete has been destroyed!" Jackie chips in, "the Strike has been activated! No it's in combat!"

Natarle narrows her eyes and slightly leans forward as Rau's CGUE comes charging for the battleship, seemingly trying his luck at sinking the new Battleship alone. Either that, or he could be testing its combat strength.

"Evade!" Natarle orders Neumann, "Starboard!"

Neumann responds by and tilts the operating device to the right just as the CGUE starts to open fire on the Battleship with its Heavy Machine Gun. The Archangel swerves to the right to evade the oncoming fire as the CGUE flies straight past it. Rau quickly turns back around and reloads his Heay Maching Gun, ejecting the current Magazine and loading another with Armour Piercing Rounds (Enhanced APSV). Instead of making another pass on the Archangel, he flies straight towards the idle Strike as well as Kira's entourage who were completely exposed with the exception of Cagalli who had taken cover in the Flatbed that was restraining the GINN.

"Phase Shift?" Rau scoffs, "then how about this?!"

Murrue quickly wheels around to address Kira's friends.

"Take cover!" She yells. They all respond so by diving onto the ground as Rau begins to open fire. Kira, out of concern for his friends, manoeuvres the Strike so that its knee protects them from harm, causing the Mobile Suit to take all of the incoming shots, luckily the bullets do not seem to even Phase the Strike as it shrugs off the bullets like nothing.

Rau grunts a little in annoyance as he flies past.

"Not even Enhanced APSV?" He questions in wonder.

The Archangel turns back around to address the Enemy Mobile Suit.

"Prepare Stern Missile Tubes Seven to ten for firing!" Natarle commands, "Target Enemy Mobile Suit!"

Two Missile Bays located on the Two columns protruding out of the Archangel's vertical fins open to reveal Four "Wombat" Anti-Air missile ready to fire.

"Laser Designator!" She commands Romero, "Under no circumstances are you to hit the shaft or ground, understood?!"

Romero grunts a little in confirmation.

"Fire!"

The four large missiles roar into life as they shoot out of their Missile Bays and charge straight for Rau and his CGUE. In response, he groans in annoyance as he flies backwards and takes cover behind the shaft while shooting one of the missiles down. The second missile impacts the shaft while Rau shoots down the third and the fourth also hits the surface. Rau quickly flies away to avoid the explosion as the large wires holding the Shaft come loose from the damage. Miriallia screams in terror at the sight.

"Wha…?!" Kira exclaims, "You've gotta be kidding?!" He quickly activates the Strike's manual sights as the device slides up from beside him and into his line of sight so that Kira can utilise it. Kira equips the "Agnir" Impulse Cannon from his back and starts to lock onto Rau's CGUE who was dodging fire from the Archangel's "Igelstellung" CIWS while Mu, being unarmed attempted to play a distraction.

"Wait!" Murrue tries to warn him, "that's…"

It's too late as Kira opens fire and the large, red and intense beam of energy erupts from the Cannon and hurtles towards Rau's CGUE. He, unfortunately, notices at the last second and evades out of the way, only losing his right arm and Heavy Machine Gun as a result. The worse part about is that the Beam continues on a trajectory and impacts against the surface of the Colony, causing a large explosion to occur as a hole into space is revealed. Kira can only look at in shock and terror as Rau uses the opportunity and makes his escape through the hole.

"How could they allow a Mobile Suit to have that much firepower?" Rau can't help but wonder as he successfully makes his escape through the hole.

"The enemy Mobile Suit is retreating!" Jackie informs Natarle.

Natarle breathes a sigh of relief that they managed to scare off the enemy.

"We're landing. Adjust speed to match ground rotation." She commands, "Be cautious of gravity kicking in."

* * *

**Meanwhile, aboard the Vessalius…**

The engineering crew aboard the Nazca-Class are hard at work recovering as much data as they can from their latest bounties as well as getting to work on improving the somewhat inferior OS that is currently being utilised on each Mobile Suit.

"All unauthorised personnel are restricted from access to areas designated to captured Mobile Suits." Came the voice of the Communications Officer over the Ship-Wide intercom. Meanwhile, Athrun was hard at work assisting the Engineering crew in rewriting the Aegis' OS. As he worked however, flashes of his childhood departure from Kira kept occurring.

"Security clearance is in effect for all maintenance crew until confirmation that Mobile Suits pose no threat." The communications officer continued as Athrun kept seeing childhood flashes as he was working. What also flashes across his mind is his VERY recent encounter with Kira Yamato.

"Failure to comply will result in disciplinary action."

An alarm broke Athrun out of his trip down Memory Lane as one of the engineers assisting him gave a yell of confusion as his console started to malfunction.

"Sorry!" Athrun apologises, "I started working on yours as well by mistake."

"Oh, don't worry." One of the engineers assures him, "we're done with the external check and recharging. What about you?"

"I'm done as well." Athrun informs them, "But how'd they manage with an OS like this?" He can't help but wonder as moves the Operating Keypad away from himself. The proximity alarmed roared through the ship alerting Athrun.

"Commander Le Creuset has returned." The Communication's Officer informed the crew over the intercom, "There's damage from a direct hit. Firefighting and relied squads to B Deck." Came the order as Rau's damaged CGUE entered the hangar and impacted against the safety net, preventing him from just crashing into the hangar.

"The commander's unit lost an arm?!" One of the Aegis' engineers queries with an incredulous tone.

Athrun also peers out of his cockpit to observe the damaged CGUE with the same confusion as the engineers.

"How'd that happen?" He can't help but wonder as the Cooling Systems begin to scrub the damaged CGUE.

"But if it was against him, then…"

* * *

**Back with the Archangel…**

Mu's damaged Moebius lands on top of the Archangel as Kira, after carrying the disabled GINN, that was released from its binds, into the hangar and locked it in place, carries his friends into the Right Launch Ramp of the Archangel.

"Lieutenant Ramius!" Calls the voice of Natarle as she races towards the Strike, with the handful of crew aboard, to greet their comrade.

"Ensign Badgiruel." Murrue addresses her as they come to a halt in front of her. Natarle quickly salutes Murrue.

"I'm glad to see that you're safe!" Natarle tells Murrue as she responds with her own salute.

"And you." She responds, "I'm glad to see that you managed to save the Archangel. You saved our lives."

Their pleasant reunion is interrupted at the Strike's hatch opens up and Kira climbs out of the cockpit. Natarle and her band of soldiers are shocked as they take in the young boy as he uses Zip-Line elevator to descend to the ground.

"Come on, what's going here?" Kojiro Murdoch exclaims with an incredulous tone, "he's only a kid!" He looks towards Jackie, "you mean to tell a kid piloted that thing?" He wonders as Kira gets off the elevator and is greeted by his friends.

"Lieutenant Ramius, what's going on?" Natarle asks her comrade. She gives a slight gasp and looks as if ready to say something before closing her mouth and looking at the ground with a secretive expression.

"Wow, what a surprise." A male voice catches their attention as the figure of Mu La Flaga enters into the picture still in his Normal Suit. He walks towards the Ramius before standing in front of her and next to the Strike.

"I'm Lieutenant Mu La Flaga of the Seventh Orbital Fleet." He addresses her with a salute, "nice to meet you."

He is met by a large crowd of salutes from the Military Staff.

"I'm Lieutenant Murrue Ramius of Sector Two, Fifth Special Division." She addresses him.

"Ensign Natarle Badgiruel of the same division." She also addresses.

"I'd like to board this ship." He requests, "Who's in charge here?"

Murrue looks towards Natarle from a response as she lowers her head with a somber expression.

"The Captain and Top Officers of this ship have all perished in battle." She informs the Mobile Armour Pilot, "Therefore, I believe that Lieutenant Ramius is now in the position of responsibility." Murrue looks at her with a shocked expression.

"Only a dozen or so of us were saved, mostly non-commissioned officers." She explains, "Fortunately, being in the shaft, I was able to escape danger."

"The captain?" Murrue asks, "How could that be?"

Mu scratches his forward at the seeming unfortunate series of circumstances.

"Oh man." He exclaims, "What a disaster."

"In any case," he continues, "please give me permission, Lieutenant Ramius. The Ship I came in was shot down." He explains.

"E-er sure," she manages to say, "I'll give you permission." He then turns towards Kira and his entourage.

"So?" He asks, "Who's that?"

"As you can see, he's a civilian teenager." She explains, "for some reason, he was in the factory district while we were under attack with that girl." She gestures to Cagalli. "I let them both on the G-Weapon."

"His name is Kira Yamato."

"Hmmm…" Mu simply says.

"Th-thanks to him, we were able to fight off and disable…" she gestures to the docked GINN, "that GINN and protect this one machine."

"A GINN?" Natarle asks incredulously as the Crew begin to whisper to themselves about the revelation, "The kid did that?"

"I came here to escort the pilots who would be piloting those Mobile Suits." Mu explains, "where are they?"

"We were bombed in the Control Booth while being welcomed by the Captain." She informs him, "that means they're…"

"I see…" Mu simply says. He then looks towards Kira and begins to walk towards Kira, the rest of the survivors follow suit.

"W-what is it?" Kira asks.

"You're a coordinator, aren't you?" Mu asks. This causes Kira's entourage to adopt an alarmed expression while the Alliance Soldiers all adopt a shocked expression. Cagalli adopts a somewhat aggressive expression as she can only imagine what's about to occur.

"Yes." This response causes nearby armed soldiers to ready their weapon. Tolle is about to come to Kira's aid before…

* * *

**Back on the Vessalius…**

The bridge's briefing console of the Vessalius was now surrounded by Rau, Fredrik, the three Green Pilots (Miguel, Olor, Matthew) and Athrun.

"You sure saved my neck by bringing this data back, Miguel." Rau addresses the Green as they watch the recording of Miguel's battle with the Strike, "otherwise, I would have been a laughing stock for having my unit damaged by Mobile Suits of the Earth Forces no matter how I'd try to make my case."

"You're all already aware of the situation with the original OS." Rau continues, "as a result, I have no idea why the Mobile Suit was able to move so well."

They all nod at his explanation.

"But what is clear is that we cannot afford to leave it in their hands and ignore this situation!" He declares.

"Sir…" Miguel pipes up.

"Yes, Miguel?"

"Are we authorised to destroy the enemy Mobile Suit?" He asks. Athrun adopts a worried expression as the prospect of Kira being killed scares him greatly.

"It would be beneficial to capture it…" Rau answers, "but our primary goal is to ensure that it can never be used against us as a weapon. Destruction of the unit is authorised along with the new battleship"

Miguel smirks a little.

"Don't underestimate it, Miguel." Rau cautions him.

"I won't, sir."

Rau salutes the four of them and they respond in kind.

"Miguel, Olor, prepare to take off!" Fredrik addresses them, "permission to use the D-Equipment has been authorised!"

"Make sure you finish them off this time!" He asserts to them.

"Yes, sir!" They respond before moving to exit the Bridge. Athrun chooses this opportunity to speak up.

"Captain Ades, please allow me to sortie" He requests the Captain who responds with a curious "hmm?"

"But you have no machine." Rau reasons, "besides, you already completed your objective and captured one of the Mobile Suits."

"But…" Athrun protests.

"Let the others go this time, Athrun." Fredrik tells him, "Miguel and Olor have a stronger case, given the humilation they have suffered."

* * *

**Back on the Archangel…**

"So what?"

A voice calls out during this tense stand off. Kira's friends as well as the Alliance Soldiers all turn to see that Cagalli was the one to utter this statement, a very angry expression was clear on her face.

"What did you say?" One of the soldiers say to her.

"You heard me." She responds, "So what if he's a Coordinator? Doesn't change the fact that he has done three things for you that entitles him to some damn gratitude."

She gestures to Murrue.

"First, he saved the life of one of your own people. If he was an enemy he would have killed her when she fainted from blood loss but instead chose to save her life for you."

She then gestures to the Strike.

"He stopped your last Mobile Suit from falling into ZAFT's hands and ensuring that you still have a fighting chance in this war."

She then gestures towards the disabled GINN.

"And, as the icing on the cake, he stole one of THEIR Mobile Suits for you. Now call me weird…" She scoffs a little, "but I think he deserve a thank you and not guns being pointed at his face!"

"But he's a coordinator!" One of the soldiers reasons.

"AND THAT'S THE SORT OF ATTITUDE THAT MEANS THIS WAR HASN'T ENDED YET!" She yells hotly, causing the people nearby to flinch, "the moment that word is uttered, you reach for your guns without thinking… Not caring… I'm sick of it!" She gestures towards herself.

"I'm a Natural." She declares before pointing to Kira.

"And, until he saved my life, I didn't know he was a Coordinator." She explains, "Did that change my opinion of him? NO! You soldiers need to learn to look beyond what that stupid Blue Cosmos propaganda tells you…"

The situation is tense as Cagalli still adopts an aggressive stance and attitude and those soldiers still have their gun fixed on Kira before…

"Lower your rifles!"

Murrue steps into the firing line and commands the soldiers who pause for a few seconds before doing as she asks. Natarle steps in front of her with a confused expression.

"Lieutenant Ramius!" She addresses her superior, "please explain yourself." Murrue adopts a small smile and looks at Natarle.

"There's no puzzle, is there?" She asks rhetorically, "Heliopolis belongs to a neutral state, after all." She gives her a solemn expression.

"It's obvious that some coordinator would choose to live and avoid being involved in the war." She then turns towards Kira, "am I right?"

"No, you're right." Kira responds, "Especially with me being a first-generation coordinator."

"First-Generation?" Romero asks.

"Meaning that your parents are Naturals." Mu states before scratching his head in embarrassment, "well, I apologise for causing a stir. I was just curious, is all."

"Lieutenant La Flaga…" Murrue trails. Mu looks towards the Strike.

"On my way here, I observed a fair number of situations involving the guys who would be piloting these," Mu starts to explain, "but none of them could do anymore than just get them to move."

He sighed a little.

"Man oh man…" he says before walking back towards the hangar. Natarle quickly addresses him.

"Lieutenant! Where to?" She asks.

"Where to?" He repeats before turning around to address her, "I landed after being shot down, and the team waiting outside is Le Creuset's." They all look at him with shock.

"He's a persistent guy." Mu says with a playful tone, "if you ask me, I don't think that we should spend much longer here."

* * *

**Meanwhile, aboard the Gamow.**

The engineering crews are hard at work attaching the fabled "D-Equipment" to the GINNs. One of the numerous weapons containers open to reveal the M66 "Canus" Short Ranged Guided Missile Launcher and M68 "Pardus" Short-range guided Three-Barrel Missile Launcher.

"Number Six Container!" One of the Engineers calls out, "mount the D-Equipment onto the GINN!"

One of the GINNs moves forward, ready to receive this equipment.

"Operation commences at 01:00!" The announcer calls over the intercom, "Matthew, proceed to standby position!"

Meanwhile, from the Locker Room, the three Red pilots (Nicol, Dearka, Yzak) watch the GINN's through the observation window as the ZAFT Greens are preparing to sortie.

"D-Equipment, huh…" Dearka starts to say, "Does Le Creuset plan to storm a fortress or something?"

"But what'll happen to Heliopolis?" Nicol asks his comrades with concern.

"Can't be helped, can it?" Dearka responds.

"It serves them right," Yzak states, "calling themselves a neutral state."

Nicol only looks at Yzak for a few more seconds before turning to regard the GINNs, once again.

* * *

**Back with the Archangel…**

The central loading ramp is lowered as numerous Supply Trucks are coming and going from the Archangel carrying various supplies, ranging from the Strike's wear parts, ammunition, food, water, general repair parts that can fix up the GINN, Moebius Zero (which were in the process of being repaired) and the Strike should the need arise. There are also other various assorted goods.

"We have no choice but to bring the water from Morgenroete!" Romero tells two random engineers.

"Our priority is to load ammunition and parts for the Strike, hurry!" Murdoch urges his Maintenance Crew.

Meanwhile, during all of this chaos, Kira and his friends (Cagalli included) were resting in the ship's quarters. They were all alert and awake while Kira was fast asleep.

"I'm impressed that he's able to sleep through all this." Kuzzey says.

"He's tired." Miriallia defends, "It was really tough for Kira, you know." None of Kira's friends respond to that statement for a few seconds and instead adopt thoughtful expressions before Kuzzey speaks up again.

"It was tough? Well, that's true," he agrees, "but…"

"What are you getting at, Kuzzey?" Sai asks.

"Nothing really…" Kuzzey responds, "just that we can only say that it was tough for him and that's it."

"Kira said he rewrote the OS for the thing…" He turns to look at them, "when did he do that?"

"What do you mean?" Sai asks.

"Just that if he's never used one of those thing's before…" he looks towards Kira, "… how did he rewrite the OS?"

They all adopt solemn expressions except for Cagalli who only sits there seriously not liking the undertones of this conversation. They all recall during the battle where, in the space of practically a second, the Strike stopped behaving like a drunken animal and like a true machine of war.

"We always figured he was a coordinator." Kuzzey continues, "To think that Coordinators, born genetically-enhanced do these amazing things, but to them it's nothing more than "tough.""

"The guys in ZAFT are probably all like that." He concludes, "Do the Earth Forces have any chances against guys like that?"

"Well, you should be thankful that have one who's willing to risk his life to protect you all." Cagalli finally intrudes into the conversation. This causes them to all look towards her.

"Sorry?" Kuzzey asks.

"I'm just saying, don't look a gift-horse in the mouth." Cagalli continues, "if he wasn't a coordinator, that GINN would have won, taken the Mobile Suit, ZAFT would be one step closer to winning this war and we probably wouldn't be here."

"I suppose you're right…" Miriallia responds before something occurs to her, "by the way, you never told us what you're doing here…"

"Huh?" Cagalli queries.

"What I mean is…" Miriallia begins, "you're not from here, so why did you come here?"

Cagalli sits there for a few seconds quickly trying to devise some sort of excuse that could be believable. She manages to think up one.

"Well, I come from ORB's capital." She begins to say.

"Capital?" Tolle wonders, "you mean Onogoro Island?" Cagalli nods in response.

"Yeah, and I had never been to other Neutral territory before so I decided to come to Heliopolis to see what it is like." Cagalli explains.

"That's it?" Sai asks her.

"That's it." Cagalli responds.

It's still too early for her to reveal herself yet…

* * *

**Archangel bridge…**

Murrue breathes a sigh as her Phone-call ends and places the Phone back into the Captain's chair. She turns to address Natarle and Mu.

"I'm told that the Colony interior is almost One Hundred Percent evacuated but with that last incident, the alert is up to nine." She explains.

"Which means that the shelters have been completely locked." Mu concludes, before having a thought, "what'll happen to those kids?"

Murrue gets out of the chair and walks over to him, slipping out a questioning "huh?" at his query.

"I mean, it's too late to look for a shelter to throw them back into, isn't it?" He reasons.

"Lieutenant Ramius detained those children because they have seen Military Secrets." Natarle corrects him, "we can't just let them go."

"So you're saying to let them join us in our escape?" He clarifies, "once we leave, we'll be involved in some pretty heavy fighting."

A tense silence passes between the two of them before Murrue speaks up.

"I think that we need to rely on the Strike's strengths." She interjects.

"You're going to use that in battle again?" Natarle objects.

"How else are we supposed to make our escape without it?" She reasons to which Natarle gasps quietly.

"Has the kid agreed to do it?" Mu asks Murrue.

"Why don't you pilot it this time, Lieutenant La Flaga?" Natarle suggests. Mu responds with an incredulous look and exaggerative gesture.

"Hey don't be silly!" He responds, "there's no way I can use that thing!" Natarle gives him a confused look.

"Haven't you seen the OS that the kid told us he rewrote?" He asks her, "there's no way a normal human being, like me, could pilot that thing."

"Then make him change it back to…" Natarle tries to reason, "we can't have a civilian, especially a young coordinator, in charge of such important machinery."

"Then we should go out there and be an easy target for them?" Mu simply responds. This single statement causes them all to fall into an awkward silence as they decide what would be the best course of action.

* * *

**On the Vessalius…**

Olor and Matthew have just launched from the Nazca-Class with their D-Equipment attached (the Missile Launchers). Meanwhile, Miguel was just getting ready to launch with his GINN that was equipped with the M69 "Barrus" Heavy Ion Cannon equipped and, rather strangely, has elected to take a Heavy Sword with him.

"Olor unit takeoff complete." The Flight Controller declares, "Miguel to the Catapult!"

"I'll get you this time, Strike!" Miguel mutters to himself, "Miguel Aiman, GINN, launching!" Are his words as his GINN shoots out of the Hangar, detaching its power cable in the process as he hurries to catch up to his comrades.

Unknowing to the Hangar Crew, Athrun was currently booting up the Aegis, preparing to follow the GINN squad. The Mobile Suit roars into life.

"Close the hatch!" One of the Maintenance officers yells before the Aegis moves out of its restraints behind him, surprising the man as well as the rest of the crew,

"What's going on?"

"Is that going out, too?"

"Nobody told me!"

Unfortunately, they are unable to get any answers as the Aegis flies out of the Hangar, detaching its power cable, leaving behind a very confused Vessalius crew.

"What?" Fredrik asks, "Athrun Zala has taken off in one of the Capture Units? Call him back! Order him to come back to the ship!"

"Let him go." Rau simply asks him.

"Huh?"

"We're already done with the data extraction, so this may be interesting." Rau reasons, "pitting one Earth Forces Mobile Suit against another." Upon saying this, Rau turns back around to watch the ensuing chaos.

* * *

**Archangel…**

The ship-wide alarm is roaring as Dalida is alerted to the fact that they no longer have visual communication to surrounding area as evidenced by the static screen on his Display as well the large amount of Jamming Bars.

"Electrical Interference throughout the Colony!" He informs the bridge crew, "N-Jammer levels rising!"

"What?" Natarle asks as she turns her chair around to regard Delida. Mu lets out a grunt of annoyance as he can easily assume what's causing this.

"It seems he has no intention of waiting until we get out of here!" Mu exclaims with annoyance, "The bastard!"

"Do they intend to hit us again within the colony?" Natarle asks him.

"Easy for them" Mu states playfully, "We can't fire, but they can fire as much as they want!"

* * *

**Crew Quarters…**

"I won't do it!" Kira states with resolution at Murrue's request, "Please don't involve us any further in this war than you already have!"

"Kira…" Murrue simply responds.

"What you say may be correct," he agrees, "that there's a war going on outside of our world but we don't agree with it! We hate war!" He declares, "that's why we chose to remain in the Colony!" He lowers his head with a sad expression, "yet you…" he trails.

"Lieutenant Ramius!" A voice over the intercom interrupts them, "Lieutenant Ramius! Please Come to the bridge at once!"

She quickly walks over to the nearby intercom and activates it to reply.

"What's wrong?" She enquires.

"There are Mobile Suits approaching!" Mu informs her, causing Kira's friends to gasp, "Come up here and take command! You're the captain!" Murrue regards him with a confused expression.

"I-I am?"

"I may have seniority…" he agrees, "but I don't know anything about this ship!"

"…I understand" Murrue confirms, adopting a serious expression, "then prepare the Archangel for takeoff! All hands to Level One Battle-Stations! What about your Mobile Armour?"

"No good, it ain't ready!" He responds.

"Then, Lieutenant La Flaga, please take command of the CIC!" She orders him. The intercom shots off after that as she turns to regard the group.

"It's like you just heard." She confirms, "we are entering another battle. With the alert at Level Nine at the Shelters, I can't let any of you go." She walks towards them to address them further on the matter at hand.

"If we can somehow overcome this and escape Heliopolis…" She reasons. Tolle and Miriallia regard each other with a worried expression before embracing each other.

"Tolle…" Kira clenches his fist in anger.

"You people aren't being fair!" He addresses her with an angry tone.

"Kira…" Murrue trails.

"Kira-" Sai starts to say.

"And now you'll tell us that you only have one functioning Mobile Suit…" he starts to assume, "and that I'm the only one who can pilot it, right?"

* * *

**Some time later…**

The Archangel's engines roar into life as the White Ship takes off from the ground, kicking a large cloud of dust behind it from its launch. The crew have all manned their stations and Murrue has managed to make it back to the Bridge in time for launch.

"Our top priority is to escape Heliopolis." Murrue explains to the bridge crew, "be careful not to damage the Colony during battle!"

"That's impossible," Jackie mutters to himself, Natarle silently regards him."

Meanwhile, the Strike is currently positioning itself on the Loading Catapult, ready to receive whatever equipment has been deemed the most effective.

"Open Number Three Container!" Murdoch orders his crew, "Attach Sword Striker!" The roof above the Strike opens up to reveal a loading arm carrying a Power Pack. The wall to the Strike's right opens to reveal the Sword Striker Pack's signature weapon: The 15.78M "Schwert Gewehr" Anti-Ship Sword which is mounted on the back while, on the opposite side: the arm-mounted "Panzer Eisen" Rocket Anchor and the Shoulder-Mounter "Midas Messer" Beam Boomerang.

"A sword…" Kira trails, "Odds are THAT won't happen again." Kira reasons as he deploys the Phase Shift Armour.

The radar bursts into life as a contact appears on it, alerting the Bridge Crew.

"One heat source approaching!" Jackie calls out, "The thermal pattern, it's a GINN!" He declares as a GINN's blueprint screen appears as well as a video of the GINN approaching, equipped with the Missile Launchers.

"What are they thinking?!" Mu exclaims, "It has heavy bombing equipment used to take out bases! Are they planning to use that here?!"

Suddenly an explosion occurs as another hole is ripped in the side of the Colony as two more GINNs fly through the hole (Miguel's and Olor's) into Heliopolis

"A separate time is approaching from the Tannenbaun District." Jackie confirms for them.

"Send out the Strike!" Natarle orders.

All of a sudden, a certain crimson Mobile Suit also appears through the tear which reveals itself on Jackie's Radar to which he lets out a gasp of surprise.

"One of them is X303, Aegis!" Mu, Natarle and Murrue all gasp at that revelation.

At that moment, Kira launches from the Strike to meet the oncoming enemies.

"They're already sending it into actual battle?" Murrue asks with a disbelieving tone.

"Right now it's an enemy!" Mu states, "do you want to be sunk by it?"

"Prepare to fire Korinthos!" Natarle orders, "Direct Laser Designator at the GINNs!" Murrue turns to regard her.

"Projectile Weapons are useless against Phase Shift Armour!" She reminds Natarle, "Link laser to main cannons, fire at will!"

As she makes this command, the Archangel's two "Gottfried MK.71" 225CM High Energy Beam Cannons rise from the front of the Archangel, extend their cannons, and take aim at the Mobile Suit Squad. Four large beams of Green Energy burst from the cannons and veer straight towards the enemies. Unfortunately, they all manage to dodge the oncoming attacks. Miguel's GINN then regards Athrun.

"Olor and Matthew, focus on the warship!" Miguel commands his two fellow Greens, he then turns to Athrun, "Athrun! You came against orders. Now show us some more of that spirit and help me beat the Strike!"

As Miguel addresses Athrun, the Aegis focuses on the incoming Mobile Suit of the Strike and Athrun regards it with a quiet expression before eventually responding to Miguel.

"Sure."

In the crew quarters, Kira's entourage of friends are sitting nervously around while the battle ensues until Tolle calls out to them.

"Hey! We can see what's going on outside on the monitor over here!" He calls out to his friends to join him. They nod to each other and run into the Mess hall to observe the action.

Kira brandishes his Anti-Ship sword, igniting the Beam Sabre and proceeds to fly in circles around Miguel's GINN who responds in kind.

"Go down!" He yells out as he fires a blast of Green Energy from his Ion Cannon. Kira evades out of the way, but it unfortunately hits one of Heliopolis shaft's tethers, breaking the structure in two and detach from the Main Shaft as it fell to the ground with a heavy THUD. Kira can only look at what occurred with terror. As Miguel lets out another roar before firing another Burst of Energy at the Strike. Kira evades the blast again but it still hits the Colony and causes a small complex of structures to explode.

"I can't let it hit the colony!" Kira exclaims, "what should I do?!

Miguel fires another blast which Kira has no choice but to block with his shield, causing a large flash of light to occur.

"Did I get him?!" Miguel wonders with a hopeful smile. Unfortunately, the Strike charges through the flash straight at his GINN causing Miguel to drop his smile. He evades the slash and fires at the Strike again who blocks it with his shield.

Meanwhile, Athrun can only watch with a solemn expression as his best friend and his mentor do battle with each other.

Olor and Matthew's GINNs begin their assault on the Archangel as one of them lets off a volley of their leg-mounted missiles, some are shot down by the Archangel's CIWS, but one does get a lucky hit, causing the Ship to vibrate inside from the shock.

"Number Four Weapons bank has been hit!" Dalida calls out, "Seal off bulkheads!"

The vibrations causes Murdoch to almost fall over but manages to hold onto a surface to prevent himself.

"Damn it!" He shouts in annoyance.

Another GINN unloads its arsenal of its Arm-Mounted Missiles that all veer towards the Archangel simultaneously.

"Intercept them!" Natarle commands.

"There's not enough time!"

"Give me manual targeting control!" Mu requests.

"Starboard fourty degrees, full speed!" Murrue orders Arnold.

The Archangel flies to the right in time to evade the oncoming Missiles, unfortunately, they impact against the surface, causing more damage and another unfortunately hits the Main Shaft as well as causing a nearby shelter to start vibrating, alerting the refugees inside and scaring them.

"Has another battle started?"

"Alert Level has increased to ten!" The intercoms informs them, "there is a chance that this shelter may be ejected as a lifeboat. Please fasten your seatbelts!"

Miguel lets off another blast which, once again, misses Kira who goes for another slash. Ultimately, Miguel dodges the attack and aims another attack at the Strike point-blank.

"Dammit!" he cries in irritation. He fires again only to miss as the Strike quickly dashes upwards to avoid the shot, causing it to impact against the surface. Miguel tries again but still misses.

"It's fast…" Miguel mutters, "get behind, Athrun!"

Athrun does so and boosts towards the Strike from the rear. This alerts Kira to his presence as the Strike's view screen zooms in on the Red Mobile Suit. Kira gasps at the sight of it.

"That Mobile Suit…" He trails as flashes of Athrun embarking that very Mobile Suit spread through his mind.

"Kira!" Athrun wonders, "is it really you?!"

The Aegis flies straight past the Strike, causing Kira to be momentarily distracted from Miguel who appears from his side while his guard is down.

"You're mine!" He yells in victory. Kira manages to spot him just as Miguel lets off another blast from his Ion Cannon. Kira quickly dodges it and equips his Beam Boomerang. He throws the projectile at Miguel who manages to avoid the attack and prepares to fire another shot. Unfortunately, the Boomerang flies back around and slices the bottom part of the GINN's right thrusters as well as its leg.

"WHAT?!" He cries out. Kira yells and charges at the damaged GINN, Anti-Ship Sword ready.

As Kira comes in for the kill, Miguel sees a flash of something very dear to him: His mother and brother. He joined the war so his brother could live through his illness and he made that vow that he would see them again right before this mission. He swore to his mother that he would come home and see his brother who has finally recovered from his injury.

"I can't…" He grinds through his teeth, "no… I WON'T… I WON'T DIE HERE!" he cries out with passion.

He throws the Ion Cannon at Kira who slices the large weapon in two causing a small explosion to occur. Kira rushes through it and slices yet again, expecting to hear the sound of Metal Melting only to notice that he sliced at midair. He quickly looks around for the GINN.

"W-where did he go?!" Kira exclaims. Suddenly, his sensor beeps into life alerting of a contact above him. He looks up to see the damaged GINN descending on him with both arms holding the Heavy Sword.

"EAT THIS!" Miguel roars as he slices downwards, impacting the sword against the Strike's shoulder, causing the Mobile Suit to be knocked backwards from the force of the impact. Miguel uses this moment of stun to his advantage as he uses his GINN's remaining leg to kick the Strike's head in a round-house motion, further knocking the Strike away.

"W-what the…?" Kira wonders, "where'd this come from?!"

He quickly retaliates by readying his Anti-Ship Sword and charging at the GINN. Miguel responds in kind by charging at the Strike with the Heavy Sword.

"BRING IT, NATURAL!" Miguel yells as he charges.

Both weapons clash as sparks start to radiate. Neither Mobile Suit backs down as Metal and Energy grind against each other. It seems like neither is going to give in when, all of a sudden…

"W-what the?!" Miguel cries out as he sees his Sword's blade begin to melt from the clase, "it's melting!"

The Anti-Ship Sword tears through the Heavy Sword and continues its motion as it slices off the GINN's right arm as well as its, now broken, Heavy Sword.

"DAMMIT!" Miguel yells. He quickly uses the Strike's momentary pause and places his foot on its chest can catapults himself away with his barely functioning boosters. Unfortunately, it's all for nought as Kira shoots his Rocket Anchour at the GINN and rips off its other arm, stopping the heavily damaged Mobile Suit in its tracks.

"NO! NO!" Miguel cries as the Strike aims its Anti-Ship Sword in a lunging motion and charges towards the helpless GINN. He tries to ignite the Thrusters again, but it appears that the previous damage has affected them as it just sputters out sparks.

"Go down!" Kira yells as he gets closer and closer to the GINN. Miguel just sits there helpless as the Mobile Suit continues on its path towards, he closes his eyes in preparation for his inevitable death and then…

Nothing… No feeling of intense heat engulfing his body…

But how…?

Miguel opens his eyes and looks at his monitor to see the back of a Crimson Mobile Suit as well as the Strike hovering a fair distance away from him As his eyes come back into focus, he suddenly realises who it is.

"The Aegis… Athrun?"

* * *

**Back with the Archangel**

The Archangel's CIWS takes down another pair of missiles, preventing further damage to the battleship.

Mu manages to finally get a manual lock on the GINN with one of the "Gottfrieds". He grinds his teeth in hope that he'll manage to make the shot. The familiar green energy bursts from the end of one of the beam cannons and charges straight at one of the GINNs. Its pilot sees it too late as his Mobile Suit is blasted from behind and the beam engulfs his Mobile Suit, causing it to explode. Unfortunately, the beam carries on and hits the already damaged Shaft. Murrue cries out in distress out at the sight.

"Oh, shit!" Mu yells as he realises what just happened. He takes in the sight of the Shaft as sparks start to erupt from it, causing explosions to occur throughout the structure.

"Olor!" Matthew cries out, "Dammit!"

"We can't afford to cause any more damage to the Colony!" Murrue warns the CIC Crew.

"Then what do you suggest we do?!" Natarle counters, "Do you want to let them sink us?!"

* * *

**Back With Kira, Athrun and Miguel…**

The Strike and Aegis both hover in the air completely unfazed by all of the destruction occurring around them while Miguel's GINN hovers there helplessly behind the latter mobile suit. Miguel wanted to thank Athrun for preventing his death, but his Mobile Suit's communicator seems to have been damaged during combat, meaning that Miguel could not talk to the Aegis nor listen into what Athrun was saying. Miguel could only watch with confusion as the two Mobile Suits stared each other down. Kira looks at the Aegis with a cautious expression when his communicator blares back into life.

"Strike! What are you doing?!" Natarle call over the communicator, "we're under attack by the enemy here!"

"Athrun!" Matthew calls over Athrun's communicator, "Where are you, Athrun?!"

Kira, once again, assumed an offensive pose. He still, however, hesitated as the same thought raced through his mind:

"Athrun? It can't be!"

"Kira!" Athrun's voice called over the communicator, "Kira Yamato!" Kira gasps as he recognises the voice easily.

"So it _is _you, isn't it, Kira?"

"Athrun? Athrun Zala!"

At that moment, Matthew's GINN was blasted by the Archangel's Beam Cannon, causing the GINN to be blasted apart at the cockpit and subsequently explode. Unfortunately, it does not leave without issue as it fires its Arm-Mounted Missiles which veer straight towards the Main Shaft, causing it become even further damaged… If it could even take any more… The Archangel's crew can only watch in terror as it occurs. Kira, Miguel and Athrun seem completely unaware as they continue their conversation.

"Why?" Kira calls out to his friend, "why are you here?"

"That's what I want to know!" Athrun responds, "what are you doing in that thing?!"

Unfortunately, neither gets their answer as the shaft completely falls apart causing every segment of the Colony walls to break apart like a jigsaw puzzle. As this occurs, all of the Lifepods launch to safety so as to not be caught in the ensuing destruction. The Vessalius and Gamow can only watch this carnage from a distance.

"Commander…" Ades calls to Rau, who simply watches the carnage with a stone-cold expression.

The intense pressure is too much as the Archangel starts to buck violently. Meanwhile, Kira cries out as the Strike starts to get sucked out into the vacuum of space.

"Kira!" Athrun cries out to his friend who drifts further and further from him.

He notices that Miguel's GINN starts to drift out of the colony with Kira as well. Fearing for his ZAFT comrade, Athrun quickly transforms his Mobile Suit into its Mobile Armour form and grabs the beaten GINN in its claws. Miguel breathes a sigh of relief as he was almost sucked into space with the enemy.

"Thanks, Athrun." Miguel hopes Athrun can hear him, "If it weren't for you, I'd be a goner."

* * *

_**And so ends chapter 3! Believe me when I say that this will probably be the only time I release a chapter as fast as this. I just got REALLY lucky with my workload.**_

_**Anyway… So Miguel survives in my story! Yeah, you'll just have to wait and see what becomes of that. I really like his character and he felt like wasted potential to me.**_

_**There isn't really much else to say so…**_

_**R-0 Out!**_


	4. Chapter 4: The Journey Begins

_**Hello everyone, R-0 here and welcome to the next chapter.**_

_**First though… Review and Answer time! Remember that people I PM get answered privately.**_

_**Don 77: I'm happy that you are enjoying it.**_

_**Kevinrock8899: To be honest, I would find it more believable that Cagalli bonded with the male crew members rather than the female members. Even then, she always seemed to be quite a secretive girl and only really opened up to Kira during their journey to ORB. This is only my opinion and you don't have to agree with it.**_

_**NaruSaku fan 100: Cagalli only became what she did just to make Lacus look better in comparison as well as make the crappiness that is AsuCaga actually work. After a point, Fukuda's wife just used Destiny to over-glorify the Mary Sue that she created. This is the problem with you (the director) letting your WIFE (who's going through cancer) write the script of your story.**_

_**Birds of a Feather… Noooo…. I don't like Highschool AUs under any circumstance. I appreciate the suggestion, but it does not appeal to me in the slightest.**_

_**code R.R: What you've seen up to this point is probably as extreme as the changes will be. From now on, it's simply the results of these changes.**_

_**edboy4926: I can't think of certain KiraXCagalli fanfiction that are worth reading as they are all quite fun. If I had to recommend something, I would say to check out ExArchMagus' stories as they are all very fun, well-written and make a serious attempt at improving Destiny. His stories are a mix of KiraXCagalli and ShinnXCagalli.**_

_**thedarkpokemaster: Clearly, you underestimate Miguel. He isn't an Ace Pilot and the Le Creuset team's instructor for nothing, you know. I won't confirm if Cagalli has feelings for Kira or not up to now. All I will say is that, if she does, she's unaware of them.**_

_**Worldwanderer2.0: I am already well aware of Miguel's backstory and that's partly why I have had him survive and not just because I like the guy. Miguel's Custom GINN won't come back into play for a few chapters, though you can probably guess when he will be reunited with it.**_

_**Indeed, the overabundance of AsuCaga and AUs is a bit suffocating and why I don't really sift through the Gundam SEED Archive. It's really difficult to find stories that aren't making out Lacus to be the greatest thing ever and/or over-hyping Kira as a pilot and AsuCaga as a pairing.**_

_**Again, thank you for the suggestions, but I already know what course that GINN is going to take in this story. The Assault Type wouldn't make a great deal of sense as ZAFT barely produced any on the battlefield so how should the starved-of-supplies Archangel be able to do it? Same for the High Manoeuvre as it utilises the same engines as the METEORs, a technology that ZAFT was developing far into the war. How would the Archangel gain access to this technology? They wouldn't be able to. As I said, this story follows the Canon pretty religiously and I am not going to throw Variants in that make no sense being there. These two, personally, are such examples.**_

_**Fireminer: Miguel always seemed, very much to me, like a Big Brother to the Le Creuset Team and that's the sort of dynamic he will have with them. Again, I don't need suggestions regarding Mecha as I already have it all planned out but thank you for them. As I said before, I LOVE the Astrays and the prospect of putting them in would be appealing, however, I couldn't put them in as the Archangel never encounters it in-series. I feel like reasserting that this is not a re-write and only a Canon Following based on how minor changes can affect things. I already know how I am going to develop KiraXCagalli so there's no need to worry about that. I never said that Lacus would be changing in regards to her significance., her role will remain the same within the series. The only difference is that Kira is not her love interest anymore. She'll still give the Kira the Freedom, bring the Eternal and whatever else she does, ergo Andrew will still indeed survive (if I was going to change something, I would change the circumstances of his death a little to make it less "Jesus" Yamato-like).I meant that, if I ever do a Destiny fanfic, it will be much more of a re-write than this and her role would be much less prominent (along with the original cast as Destiny was SUPPOSED to be about the Minerva crew fighting their war (before Kira, Lacus and their merry band of Mary Sues hijacked the show)).**_

_**I appreciate these suggestions that fans are giving me, but please understand that I want the story to go a certain way. I already have it thought out and trying to incorporate these suggestions just would not work with what I have planned. **_

_**I say this in the nicest way possible: Please stop giving me suggestions for Mobile Suits. If I needed help in this field, I would say so.**_

_**Anyway, let's begin the chapter!**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED and its respective materials.**_

* * *

Chapter 4: The Journey Begins

"X-105 Strike! Respond!"

These words called out, over the communicator, to the currently drifting Strike. The Mobile Suit lifelessly floating through the debris of Heliopolis and all that remains of its pilot Kira Yamato's home, who is sat in cockpit visibly shaken. His breath is ragged and his hands shake as they hold the Control Levers of his Mobile Suit.

"X-105 Strike, can you hear me? Respond?" The familiar voice of Natarle Badgiruel calls out over the console to the un-answering Kira, "X-105, Respond!"

Meanwhile, Kira seems to be in his own little world and is trying to properly comprehend what happened.

"Heliopolis… Destroyed?" Kira mutters to himself with a disbelieving tone as Natarle keeps repeating her line over the communicator, hoping to hear some sign of confirmed existence from the pilot.

"Why…?"

* * *

**Archangel…**

The White Battleship is also seen within the debris. Unlike the Mobile Suit, however, it is not simply drifting within the destruction. The ship's engines are fully active as the ship navigates through the remains of what used to be ship's alarm that indicates Red Alert has just ceased making any noise and the shade of red cast throughout the ship's corridors has just died off, returning the interior to its original pallet.

Kira's entourage of friends (and the refugees that are located on-board the craft) have just witnessed the devastation, all with their own visible forms of reaction to it.

Mirrialia and Tolle hold each other tightly at the sight of it and feel some sort of protection from the destruction that threatened to engulf the ship.

Sai can only look at what has occurred with upset.

Kuzzey is crouched on the ground whimpering, his hands clutching his head in terror.

Cagalli observes the view screen and tries to maintain a stern expression, however, even she cannot help but be disturbed by what has just occurred in front of her. Very upset and angry thoughts cross her mind all directed at her a certain someone…

"Damn you, Father… This is what us getting involved in this war has caused. Does it make you happy knowing that this is your fault?!"

Also, for reasons, that she herself cannot seem to comprehend, she finds herself worrying over the missing Strike and its pilot… the latter more than the former.

"Damn… I barely know the guy and he's already got me worried about him!" Were the thoughts of Cagalli as that feeling of worry felt very prominent in her core.

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Archangel, even the soldiers cannot help but be upset by the disturbing site in front of them. Mu drifts to the front of the bridge to get a better look at the devastation that is visible on the view-screen.

"Amazing how simple… how fragile it was…" Mu comments. Murrue clenches her fist in anger at the destruction. Her lamenting, however, was interrupted by the Ensign located in the CIC behind her, whose voice caused her to swivel her chair around to properly address it.

"X-105 Strike! X-105 Strike!" Natarle keeps calling over the communicator in desperation, "Kira Yamato! If you hear me, if you're okay, respond!"

Kira manages to snap out of his distressed state with a gasp as he activates the communicator to respond.

"X-105 Strike…" Kira calls over the device, taking a brief pause, "Kira here."

Natarle breathes a sigh of relief at the sound of the pilot's voice.

"Are you alright?" She queries.

"Yes!" He confirms.

"Do you know our position?" She questions him.

"Yes." Kira, once again, confirms.

"Then return…" Natarle corrects herself, "You CAN return, right?" She clarifies.

"Yes." He responds. The communicator then shuts off as Kira looks back at the destruction on his view-screen with concern.

"Mom, dad… You're safe, right?" He cannot wonder with concern. He cries a little in distress again until a warning on his console alerts him to an Emergency Beacon that is active nearby. He rotates the View-screen around in search of the signal until he makes out a faint red light. He activate the Zoom-Screen and another, smaller image appears of a drifting lifeboat. He gives a small gasp.

"It's a heliopolis Lifeboat!" Kira exclaims. He mounts the Anti-Ship sword on his back ignites the Strike's boosters to make his way towards the drifting craft.

Back on the Archangel's bridge, Mu is curious about something and decides to clarify it with his Captain.

"So…" He begins, "what do you plan to do now?"

"Our ship is still in battle!" Murrue responds, she then turns her around and addresses Romero, "can you detect the ZAFT ship's movement?"

"Impossible," he declares, "There are lots of heat sources among that debris so our laser and thermal designators are of little use here."

Murrue turns back around and lowers her head slightly in thought.

"The same will be true for them, too." Mu comments, causing Murrue to break out of her thoughts and regard the pilot, "you expect they'll come after us?" He asks.

"I think we should make our moves based on that assumption." Murrue clarifies, "Although, if they attacked us now, we'd be finished."

"You're right." Mu agrees, "all we have is our precious Strike, my damaged Zero and a GINN that we have no one left to pilot," He continues, "And the ship is greatly understaffed. We're in no shape to fight."

Murrue gives a slight sigh.

"Shall we set sail at maximum speed to shake them off?" Mu suggests, "This is quite a fast ship, from what I hear."

"Their Nazca-Class is a high-speed ship as well." Murrue responds, "there's no guarantee that we can shake them off."

"Then should we surrender?" Mu suggests with a slightly sarcastic tone, Murrue gives a little "huh?" in query at his suggestion, "That IS also an option, you know?"

"What did you say?!"

They're broken out of the tense conversation as Natarle's slightly raised voice alerts them to her communiqué with the Strike's pilot.

"Wait a minute!" Natarle protests, "who gave you such authorisation?"

"What's the matter, ensign Badgiruel?" Murrue queries, looking back towards the CIC in confusion at her conversation. Natarle lifts her head up to address her.

"The Strike has returned," begins to explain, "but it has also brought a lifeboat."

Murrue can only give her a confused expression and gasp before turning back around on her chair correctly to see what she is talking about.

"You can't accept it?" Kira asks rhetorically, "what do you mean you can't accept it?!"

"The propulsion section is broken." Kira explains, "it's drifting out of control! Are you telling me to throw it back out there again?! People who have evacuated are on this ship!"

"Reinforcements will be here right away!" Natarle assures him, "But the Archangel is still fighting a battle! There's no way we can take refugees on-board."

"All right." Murrue quickly cuts in, "I will authorise it."

"Captain-" Natarle tries to protest.

"I don't want to waste time arguing over such things!" Murrue states firmly, "Bring it on quickly!"

Natarle quickly salutes her. Her expression is still one laced with annoyance.

"Very well, Captain."

The Launch Bay doors of the right Catapult open and the Strike carefully drifts inside while holding the Lifeboat as safely as it can.

"I am well aware of the severity of our situation," Murrue confirms, "But I have not intention of surrendering!"

Mu turns around in the Co-Pilot's seat to properly take in what she saying.

"I have no intention of handing this ship or the Strike over to ZAFT!" Murrue states firmly, the Strike is safely setting down the Lifeboat in the hangar, "We must take them safely to Atlantic Federation Headquarters no matter what it takes to do so."

"Captain, I suggest that we make our way to Artemis." Natarle interjects.

"Artemis?" Murrue asks, "That's a Eurasian Military Satellite, isn't it?"

"Artemis and its Umbrella," Mu adds to which Natarle nods as they all look at the view-screen that is currently showing the Local Area

"From our present location, it's the easiest Allied Forces location to get to." Natarle justifies.

"But, you realise we're in a situation where neither this ship nor the G-Weapons have a recognition code recognised by the Allied Forces." Murrue protests, "Would Eurasia…?"

"I'm well aware that the Archangel and Strike are both regarded as top secret military secrets of the Atlantic Federation." Natarle confirms, "However, should we set our course to the moon, you can't expect us to get their easy without confrontation"

The view-screen confirms this as the journey to the moon is significantly longer than the journey to Artemis. The crew remain silence as the conversation continues.

"Also, since we left without sufficient provisions, we need supplies badly." Natarle reasons.

"I realise that." Murrue answers with an exasperated tone.

"I'm sure Eurasia will understand our situation." Natarle continues, "As things are, the most realistic measures would be to avoid confrontation replenish at Artemis, and try to contact the Lunar headquarters from there." She concludes.

"Artemis, huh?" Mu interjects, "I wonder if things will go as we hope…"

"However, it does appear to be our only option." Murrue agrees as she looks at the map once again.

* * *

**In the Hangar…**

As the civilians on board Lifeboat disembark one by one, Kira just disembarks the cockpit of the Strike in time to see a familiar Red-Haired Girl exit the craft. He gasps at the sight of her as Birdy slips out from underneath his shirt and flies towards her. Kira tries to reach out and grab the robotic bird, but to no avail. The bird alerts the girl to its presence by way of it signature "birdy" tweet. She sees the bird and then Kira flying through the air to catch the Machine.

"It's you!" She calls out to him, "you're Sai's friend!" She jumps out of the pod and flies in the direction of Kira who stops at this manoeuvre.

"F-Flay!" Kira cries as the girl wraps her arms around his torso, "Is it really you, Flay Allster? So you were on this boat.

"Hey, what happened to Heliopolis?" She asks him with a distressed tone, "What happened there? What went on?"

Kira makes a confused gasp.

"I…I… I got separated from Jessica and Misha from a store in Florence and I ran to a shelter alone and then…!" She trails, Kira gasps again, "this is a ZAFT, right? What's going to happen to us? What are you doing her, anyway?"

"T-this ship belongs to the Earth Forces." Kira corrects her.

"You're lying!" She denies, turning towards the Strike, "There's a Mobile Suit on-board!"

"No, that belongs to the Earth Forces." He clarifies, she regards him with a confused expression.

"B-but I'm glad," Kira trails, "Sai and Miriallia are here, too. You'll be fine."

* * *

**With the Vessalius**** and ****Gamow**

"Who would've expected this?" Fredrik mutters before addressing Le Creuset, "What will you do? The Council won't look lightly on a neutral colony being destroyed."

"How can you call a Colony that was manufacturing new weapons for the Earth Forces Neutral?" Rau reasons.

"But.."

"Most of the residents escaped so their should be no issue," Rau gives his logic, "In comparison to the Bloody Valentine Incident, that is." Fredrik lets out a little gasp at that statement as Rau makes his way to the Sensor Officer.

"Can you get the position of the enemy's new warship?" Rau asks the ZAFT Green.

"No," he responds, "not with the current state of things."

"Do you plan to go after them?" Fredrik asks with an incredulous tone, "But we have no Mobile Suits left except for Miguel's salvaged GINN."

"What do you mean?" Rau asks with a confused tone, "we have the four that we took from the Earth Forces."

"You suggests that we use those?!" Fredrik protests, "but…"

"Now that we're finished with the data extraction , we can go ahead and use them." Rau explains, he flies over to the Bridge's central console, "bring up a map, of the region." He commands, "Send a message to the Gamow to expand its search radius."

Meanwhile, Athrun (Who is still wearing is Normal Suit) is flying along one of the Vessalius' corridors. He stops at one of the Ship's side windows and peers out into space, a pensive expression on his face as he narrows his eyes deep in thought.

"Kira…"

* * *

**Archangel…**

Kira and Flay have just made their way to the Mess Hall that all the refugees are currently sat together in. The door opens and they enter as Kira's friends are sat at one of the end tables (Cagalli was stood against the wall to the right of the entrance). They all look at the two with shocked expressions before Sai gets up from his seat. Flay gives out a cry of joy at the sight of him and runs towards Sai, embracing the boy. Kira can only look on with a smile.

"You doing okay?"

A voice to his right alerts him as he sees that Cagalli has moved off of the wall and walked up to him.

"Sorry?" He asks her. She narrows her eyes in annoyance.

"'I'm asking if you're doing okay." She re-asserts, "it was pretty stressful out there from what I saw. Not everyday that you get into a Mobile Suit and fight off ZAFT Forces. Just wondering if you're not hurt or anything."

Kira rubs his right hand against the back of his head in embarrassment .

"Yeah, I'm fine." He assures her, "just a little shaken by the new experience is all. But I'm happy that I managed to rescue some civilians." Cagalli smiles a little.

"That's good…" she quietly says.

* * *

**Archangel Bridge…**

"Prepare Decoy!" Ramius commands, "upon firing, we'll start the main engines to adjust our course to Artemis." She explains.

"We'll then switch to inertial flight to avoid detection by the enemy! Level Two Battle Stations!" She continues, "Finish checking the ship with an absolute minimum time!"

"A silent run to Artemis…" Mu mutters, "That should take about two hours. From this point on, we'll have to rely on luck…"

* * *

**Vessalius Bridge…**

Rau and Fredrik were both stood next to the Central Bridge Console. The data appearing showed a map of potential routes and locations within the area

"Perhaps from the debris from the collapsed Heliopolis they've already left this area unnoticed." Fredrik suggests to Rau.

"No, we can rule that out," Rau discredits, "they're likely sitting very quietly somewhere." He surmises before looking back down towards the data shown on the console.

"How about setting up a net?" Rau wonders out loud.

" 'a net', did you say?" Fredrik queried.

* * *

**Archangel Bridge…**

"Number Three, fire decoy!" Natarle commanded.

One of the Archangel's rear Large Missile Launchers fired off a large missile that went veering in a direction.

A direction that the crew of the Archangel hoped their enemies would take.

* * *

**Vessalius…**

A series of directional arrows appear on the console to help Rau demonstrate what exactly he means by a net.

"The Vessalius will take off first and wait for the enemy here," Rau gestures to a position on the map, "Gamow will follow along the course, intersecting the orbit searching for the enemy ship and staying hidden.

"To Artemis?" Fredrik asked, "but what if they were to leave for the moon?"

"A large heat source is detected!" One of the Bridgecrew interrupted the conversation with this call-out to his captain, causing them to turn away from the console and listen, "Information analyse estimated course ship will swing by Earth and head for the moon to the Earth Forces Atlantic Federation Headquarters!"

Fredrik narrows his eyebrows at this.

* * *

**Archangel…**

"Start main engines!" Murrue commands the Bridgecrew, "Adjust ship's course for Artemis!"

The White Ship made a sudden and harsh turn as the ship swivelled in an almost perfect 360 motion, its engines roaring into life as it quickly took off in the opposite direction. This action alerted all of the ship's passengers as the vibrations could be felt throughout the ship, scaring a few and merely surprising others.

* * *

**Vessalius…**

"Commander!" Fredrik turned his attention to Rau and addressed his compatriot.

"That was a decoy." Rau responded smoothly, undeterred by the occurance.

"But we should confirm with the Gamow, just in case." He protested.

"No." Rau simply responded, "they're heading for Artemis. I'm even more sure of that now."

Rau took a commanding pose and swept his hand out to his right.

"The Vessalius will set sail," Rau commanded, "get Zelman online."

Meanwhile, Athrun was lead on the bed of his quarters heavily lost in thought. Unfortunately, this moment of serenity was interrupted as the room shook for a second, indicating that the ship had just started to move, causing Athrun to slightly float into the air. He widens his eyes a little and rolls his body to the right. This, unfortunately, only caused him to be graced with the sight of his dead comrade, Rusty Mackenzie's, belongings that had already been packed away with the exception of his ZAFT Red uniform that was neatly folded next to his bags.

"Rusty…!" He thought with despair as tears came to his eyes.

Unfortunately, these tears would have to wait as his doors intercom beeped into life, informing the ZAFT Red that there was a presence outside his door. He righted himself, wiped the tears from his eyes and drifted over to the door. He hit the button for the intercom.

"Who is it?" He asked.

"It's me, Athrun." The familiar and cheery voice of Miguel called over the intercom, "Got something to tell you, do you mind if come in?"

"Yeah, sure." Athrun responded, opening the door to see the familiar face of Miguel stood there, clad in a standard ZAFT Green uniform, a cheerful smile was on his face. Athrun went to sit back down on the bed as Miguel elected to simply float in the middle of the bedroom. Miguel's eyes travelled to the packed belongings of Rusty and a sombre expression crossed his features.

"They already had you clean his stuff up then, Athrun?" He enquired to which Athrun responds with a simple nod. "That figures, it's the same with me cleaning up all the Greens we've lost up to this point: Olor, Matthew and the rest of them."

"That must be hard for you, Miguel." Athrun remarks with sadness in his tone, Miguel gives him a false laugh.

"I hate to say this, but…" Miguel pauses for a moment, "…I'm used to it."

"Does it ever stop?" Miguel regards him with a confused expression, "the pain of the loss, I mean?"

"You… get used to it." Miguel vaguely replies before waving one of his hands, "anyways, I didn't come here for that, Athrun." He quickly straightened himself and saluted Athrun, "thanks for the help back then, Athrun."

"Oh, it's nothing…" Athrun saluted back.

"No, I'm serious," Miguel asserts, "if it wasn't for you, the Strike would have killed me. But you managed to stop it so I may live another day and kick that bastards ass the next time." A distressed look passes over Athrun for a second before quickly vanishing. Unfortunately, Miguel managed to notice it.

"There was something else I wanted to talk to you about," Miguel continues, "did something… happen between you and the Strike's pilot?" Athrun's eyes widened in alarm.

"What makes you think that?" He responds defensively. Miguel raises his hands at him in a relaxing motion.

"Just chill," he assures him, "while I was drifting there, my communicator was broken, but you and the Strike's pilot just seemed to eye each other for a good few moments like a showdown or something. I just thought you may have been talking to each other."

"T-that's…" Athrun trails.

"If you don't want to talk to me about it…"

"No, no, no…" Athrun assures him, "I do want to…"

"But…?"

"Look…" Athrun begins, "it's complicated, alright?"

"Well," Miguel drifted over to one of the desk's chairs and perched himself down on it, taking a comfortable position as he swivelled it around and looked Athrun, "I got time."

Athrun sits there for a moment pondering whether or not to tell him. This was something that he knew could cause some seeds of doubt in their squad. On the other hand, this is Miguel. While Miguel may not be an official therapist, the team (Rusty, Athrun, Dearka, Yzak, Nicol) always did confide in him issues that may have been concerning for them, but did not want to reveal it to others. Miguel has a few embarrassing stories about Yzak stored in his head that he swore he would never tell anyone. And the team knew this: That Miguel could keep a secret for them.

It was this fact that has brought Athrun to a decision.

"Well, here's the problem…"

* * *

**A Few minutes later…**

"…And that brings us to now." Athrun finishes explaining his relationship with the Strike's pilot.

"Uh uh…" Miguel responds, "so let me get this straight: this 'Kira' was a buddy of yours, and a coordinator, when you were kids and before you left for the PLANTS?"

"That's right."

"You didn't stay in contact after that so you had no idea where he went?"

"No, I didn't."

"During the Heliopolis mission, you were about to kill an Alliance chick guarding the Strike when you saw that this 'Kira' was there with her?"

"Not like a solider, I think he just stumbled his way there."

"That means that he was in the Strike when I fought it at first, right?"

"I think so."

"That would explain why it suddenly started putting up a better fight…" Miguel mutters, "you believed that it was this Kira so, to confirm it, you tailed along with me when I went to fight the Strike again?"

"Right."

"Again, that explains some things. You didn't seem very reluctant to help out and kept a distance from our battle."

"That's correct, I didn't know what to do."

"And that brings us to now." Miguel concludes, "so?" Athrun regards him with a confused look.

"So what?"

"Athrun…" Miguel begins, "like it or not, he's our enemy. He's fighting for the Alliance."

"They have to be forcing him or something!" Athrun retorts, "Kira hates fighting!"

"Whatever his reason, he's going to stand in our way and there may come a time when you have to fight and have to point your gun at him," Miguel states, "regardless of your past with him, an enemy is an enemy. It sucks, but it's true."

"There has to be something I can do."

"If you can think of some way for him to switch sides, then I won't stop you." Miguel assures him, "I may have a grudge against that pilot, but even I will admit that capturing that Mobile Suit is very tempting and I don't like the idea of killing my own people."

"Thank you."

"But if you screw this up…" Miguel continues as he gets up and starts to walk towards the door "I will be trying to kill him and you will have to as well. It's your duty as a soldier, Athrun."

"But-"

"We've talked enough for now…" Miguel concludes as he opens the door, "just think it over." He steps through the door and it closes behind him, leaving Athrun alone to his thoughts and to think of some way that he can prevent the impending wrath of his comrades on Kira's life.

* * *

**Some Time Later, Archangel…**

There was bustling activity in the ship's quarters as a long line of refugees and civilians stretched on as far as one could see. A small group of Alliance Soldiers were positioned around a Machine designed to bring up personal details of people based on their ID Card. A middle-aged man was currently having his ID taken.

"You're a doctor?" The Alliance Soldier using the console asked the man, reading the information displayed on the console.

"Yes, I am." The man responds.

"The captain has injured her shoulder ." The soldier informs him, "could you look at it later?"

In the quarters located immediately behind the alliance soldiers mounting this device, Kira's entourage of friends (with the recently added Flay) all sit together.

"I wonder where we're heading." Sai speaks out loud, "They changed course, didn't they? I wonder if ZAFT is still around."

"They're after this ship and that Mobile Suit, right?" Tolle queries, "then maybe they're still after us."

"Huh, what?!" Flay exclaims, "Then you're saying that we're less safe now that we boarded the ship. No way!" Kira eyes widen at that remark as a sorrowful expression crosses his features.

"Would you have rather remained on that broken Lifeboat?" Miriallia counters.

"Running the risk of either being captured by ZAFT or losing oxygen?" Cagalli adds.

"W-well, not exactly…" Flay trails, leaning closer on Sai for support.

"I hope my parents are safe." Kuzzey remarks.

"Evacuation orders were issued to all districts, I'm sure they're okay." Sai assures him with a smile.

"Kira Yamato!" A voice calls out, breaking their reverie. They all turn towards the entrance of their quarters to Mu La Flaga stood there, one of his hands scrunched in a fist and on his hips.

"Y-yes?" Kira addresses him.

"Petty Officer Murdoch is furious. He doesn't have enough people as they're too busy using the parts we salvaged from the battle to fix up the GINN." Mu informs hi,m "it's your responsibility for maintaining your own machine."

"My machine?" Kira exclaims, "Wait, what do you mean 'my machine'?"

"Let's just say that's what's been decided." Mu informs him, "The fact is, you're the only capable of piloting that thing. It can't be helped."

"Sure, I used the thing twice, but only because I had no choice!" Kira protests, "I'm not a soldier or anything!" Mu rubs his forehead in frustration.

"So when the fighting starts, you'll say that again." Mu starts, "You'll refuse to pilot it, and we'll all die, right?" This statement causes them all to gasp slightly while Cagalli feels herself getting annoyed with the blatant guilt trip occurring here.

"Right now, me and you are the only ones who can protect this ship." Mu reasons.

"But I…"

"You have the ability to make a difference, right?" Mu asks rhetorically, "then put those abilities to use."

"We have little time, including time to think this over." Mu concludes before starting to walk away.

"Excuse me!" Sai calls out to Mu, ceasing his departure, "where are we going exactly?"

"A Eurasian Military Fortress" Mu informs him, "well, we'll be lucky if THEY don't let us go without incident." Mu comments before walking away, leaving Kira and his entourage to mull over his words as Kira lets a distressed expression grace his features.

"I…!" He mutters before running out of the room, surprising his friends.

"Oi, Kira!" Tolle calls out to him, but to no avail.

"Dammit!" Cagalli grinds out of her teeth as she runs out of the quarters to give chase.

"What? What was that supposed to mean?" Flay asks in clueless manner, "You mean that Kira kid was on…?"

"You heard that a Mobile Suit carried your lifeboat onto this ship, right?" Sai asks her, "that guy, Kira, was the one piloting it."

As he told her this, Kira embarked one of the small elevators that lead to the Hangar Bay. Cagalli followed suit a few moments later by getting onto the next elevator.

"What?" Flay exclaimed incredulously as Miriallia and Tolle share a look "Him? But why? Why would he be in a Mobile Suit?" They all narrow their eyes as they don't wish to divulge that information.

"Because Kira's a Coordinator." Kuzzey informs her to which she gasps and her face takes a more aggressive expression and Sai also glances at him.

"Kuzzey!" Tolle scolds him.

"Kira is a Coordinator," Sai confirms, "but he isn't with ZAFT." He tries to assure her, unfortunately, a distressed expression is clear on her face.

"He's one of our closest friends." Miriallia assures her.

"I see." Flay says with a monotone.

Meanwhile, Kira is stood outside the Strike, thinking over what Mu just said to him.

"I may be able to pilot the Mobile Suit, but that doesn't mean I can fight a battle!" He mutters.

"Kira."

Kira is broken out of his thought process as he glances to the right to see Cagalli stood there, slightly out of breath.

"Cagalli…"

"I…" She tries to find the right words, "I disagree and agree with what he's saying." He gives her a confused expression.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that it's true that you're the only one who could use this Mobile Suit to protect us," she gestures to the Strike, "believe me, if anyone could pilot this Mobile Suit in your place, I'd gladly do it. You need a break."

"Thanks, I know, but…"

"That still doesn't excuse them forcing this responsibility on you, all of a sudden." Cagalli walks a bit closer to him, "it isn't fair for you."

"I know." He agrees, "but if I don't do this, then my friends will be in harm's way."

"That's why I've decided to help you." She informs him.

"W-what?" He asks with a confused tone.

"I may not be able to help you pilot the thing," she agrees, taking off her jacket and wrapping it around her waist, leaving her torso clad in a simple shirt. "But I'll help you with maintenance and stuff."

"Why?"

"It's hard enough for you to fight, but to have you do all this other work, alone, as well is just cruel." Cagalli informs him, "don't worry, I know a fair bit about Mobile Suits and probably know my way around a spanner better than your friends do."

"I-I couldn't…"

"I WANT to help alright?" She asserts to him, "and you're getting it whether you like it or not."

"But what about Mr. Murdoch?" he tries to protest, "he won't just let a civilian work on this with me."

"Already asked him," she counters, "his words were 'I'll take any help I can get for the kid' so it's all fine." She then takes a long stretch.

"Now then," She begins, smiling a little at him, "shall we get started?"

Kira sighs a little in annoyance at this development. Why did he have to make friends with such an impulsive girl? There is one thing, though, that he secretly thinks to himself.

He really is glad for the help.

* * *

**Vessalius…**

The Large battleship is currently flying through the remains of the Colony in the hopes of intercepting the Enemy Ship sometime soon. Meanwhile, Athrun Zala has just reached the Private Quarters of Rau Le Creuset and uses the intercom to inform the White Coat of his presence

"Athrun Zala, Reporting as ordered!" Athrun addresses his superior.

"Yes, please come in." He requests the Red Coat. The Automatic door slides open and Athrun steps through as Rau is frantically typing at his Computer. Athrun swiftly salutes his superior.

"I was hoping to speak to you earlier but things got out of hand, with the collapse of Heliopolis." He explains to Athrun, ceasing his actions at the computer and turning his chair to the left to properly address Athrun.

"Sir, I apologise for what happened during the previous battle." Athrun quickly responds.

"I have no intention of punishing you," Rau assures him, "but I would like to hear your side of the story. Particularly since it wasn't like you, Athrun."

Athrun clenches his teeth together a little, making a quiet grunt.

"I understand you were near that machine when it was activated." Rau clarifies with him.

"I am sorry about that," Athrun apologises again, "I was stunned by what had happened and failed to report the incident" He pauses for a moments.

"That final machine." Athrun addresses, "the person piloting it is Kira Yamato. A Coordinator friend from the military preparatory school I intended on the moon."

"Oh...!" Rau silently exclaims, clearly surprised at the interesting turn of events.

"I never dreamed that we would meet again under such circumstances so I just had to be sure." Athrun explains to his superior.

"I see. War is full of such irony." Rau comments, getting out his chair to better address the ZAFT Red, "I don't blame you for being so stunned. I imagine that you were quite close to this friend."

"Yes." Athrun confirms.

"Very well." Rau concludes, "if that's the case, then I will take you off the upcoming sortie." Athrun lets out a confused gasp at this conclusion.

"You wouldn't be able to point a gun at such a friend." Rau reasons, "and I do not want you to, either."

"No, Commander!" Athrun protests, "that's…

"Even if he's your friend, we must shoot him now that he is an enemy." Rau counters smoothly, "Surely you can understand that, right?"

"Kira is…" Athrun starts to protest again, "he's being used by the Naturals," he tries to explain.

"He's brilliant, but he's also good-natured and absent-minded so he fails to see when he is being taken advantage of." He continues, "that's why I want to try and persuade him! He's also a Coordinator! I know he'll understand what we have to say!"

"I understand what you are trying to say," Rau sympathises, "but… what if he won't be persuaded?" Athrun's eyes widen for a few moments before looking back down towards the ground with a mix of guilt and sadness.

"If that happens," Athrun responds, "I'll shoot him myself."

* * *

**Archangel…**

"Large Heat Source detected!" Romero calls out to the bridge-crew, "based on its size, it's probably a warship. Distance two hundred, yellow, 33,17. Mark 02 Charlie, course zero, shift zero!"

"Beside us?!" Mu exclaims, "its headed in the same direction."

"Have they caught on to us?" Murrue queries.

"But it's a fair distance away," Natarle interjects.

"The target is passing out ship." Romero continues, "Ship type confirmed. It's a Nazca-Class." Mu lets out an aggravated grunt at this piece of information.

"They're getting in front of us to stop us in our tracks!" Mu theorises.

"Where's their Laurasia-Class?" Natarle asks Romero.

"Wait a moment," he responds as he sets to work finding something else on the radar, "There's a heat source following us! Three-Hundred to stern. When did that get there?!"

"At this rate, the Laurasia-Class will eventually catch up to us." Mu begins to explain, "But if we use our engines to try and escape, the Nazca-Class will spot us." He concludes, "Hey, bring up data on the two vessels and a map over here!" He calls over to Romero.

"Do you have a plan?" Natarle asks. Mu swivels his chair around to properly address her.

"That's what I'm getting ready to think about." He responds.

The alarms blare throughout the ship, alerting the crew and somewhat scaring the refugees.

"Enemy unit, silhouette detected! Level One Battle Stations!" The voice calls over the intercom. This alert manages to garner Kira and Cagalli's attention who were still working on the Strike's maintenance.

"All Military Personnel, get to your positions at once. Repeat…!"

Jackie and Dalida run out of their bedrooms, sheer aggravation and annoyance clear on their faces.

"Damn!" Jackie complains.

"I just got into bed." Dalida adds.

A little girl named Elle dives into her mothers arms in distress.

"Mommy!" She cries out.

"It will be alright." She assures her daughter.

"Is this ship going into battle." Another refugee wonders.

"But they have us on-board!" Another replies. Meanwhile, Miriallia sits there with a sombre expression before something alerts her and the rest of her friends.

"Kira Yamato! Kira Yamato to the bridge!"

At this Kira pauses for a few moments before Cagalli calls out to him.

"Get going, moron!" She urges him, "I'll finish up in time for you to get back!" Kira nods in response as he sets off towards the ordered destination, waving at Cagalli as he left.

"Thanks!" He calls out to her.

"I wonder what Kira's decided…" Miriallia wonders with a sombre tone.

"We'll likely be in quite an unenviable position if doesn't fight." Flay's expression becomes slightly darker at this remark.

"Hey Tolle," Miriallia turns to her Love Interest, "We're always on the sidelines relying on Kira to protect us. Even Cagalli has gone to help him in whatever way she can." Tolle looks away from her with a dark expression.

"If we have the ability to make a difference, put it to use, right?" He quotes the familiar words. He then looks up towards the rest of his friends, they all exchange a silent look before nodding.

* * *

**A few minutes later…**

"Captain!" Dalida calls out to Ramius, "I have some civilians who wish to speak to you about something."

"We have no time for that!" Natarle answers for her, "I'll listen to their complaints later! Tell them to be quiet!"

"Well, uh the students that were with us from Heliopolis want to offer their help with the ship's operation!" He exclaims, garnering Murrue's attention as she turns around and looks at him with a confused expression.

"What?"

* * *

**A few minutes later…**

Kira is utilising the Automatic Railings to traverse through the ships corridor. He's incredibly silent as a pensive expression is clear on his features.

"Kira!"

A familiar voice calls out to him as he looks up to see his entourage of friends approach him, all clad in Alliance Uniforms, Dalida follows behind.

"Tolle," He responds, "all of you."

"Hi, Kira!"

"What's the deal with the outfits?" He queries.

"We've decided to help out with tasks aboard the ship," Sai explains, "they're understaffed, right?"

"They require us to wear uniforms if we're going to work on the bridge." Kuzzey adds.

"ZAFT's uniforms are much cooler, right?" Tolle asks with a joking expression, "with no badge or rank, these look kind of silly."

"Don't be a wise guy!" Dalida scolds him.

"We can't have you be the one doing all the work all the time." Tolle explains.

"Given the situation we're in, we'll help." Miriallia adds, "in whatever way we can." Kira smiles at the gesture.

"Move on, kids." Dalida exclaims as he urges them to move on.

"Bye, Kira!"

"See you later."

"Oh, and if you're talking off again," Dalida turns back around to address Kira, "Make sure you wear a Pilot Suit, this time!"

"U-um, Mr Chandra!"

* * *

**Vessalius**

"So that's…!" Fredrik trails. He looks towards a large protective barrier around a large station.

"The Umbrella of Artemis." Rau confirms for his cohort, "It appears that they have already caught onto us. It's in effect."

"We've arrived here without meeting the Earth Forces' new ship." Fredrik observes.

"We're in their path," Rau assures him, "we'll get them here!"

"Turn ship 180 degrees!" Fredrik commands the pilot, "Match velocity to Artemis and proceed astern!"

The Nazca-Class swivels around using the large side-thrusters to easily turn the ship around to have its back towards Artemis. Upon completing this action, the Ship's engines roared into life to stop the craft drifting backwards towards the station. The large, blue ship eventually comes to a dead halt.

* * *

**Archangel…**

Kira is in the locker room currently changing into an Alliance Normal suits. Unlike standard ones with their generic yellow and orange colour scheme, this suit had a white, blue and black colour scheme. Upon fastening the suit at the top, Kira looks down at himself with a thoughtful expression.

"So…" A new voice surprises Kira who turns towards the door to see Mu La Flaga stood there, also dressed in his normal suit, "Judging from that outfit, I see that you have finally decided to do it."

"You said so yourself, Lieutenant." Kira explains, "Right now, you and I are the only ones who can protect this ship."

As this goes on, Kira's friends are getting accustomed to their positions on the Bridge. Tolle manning the Co-Pilot's chair, Kuzzey manning one of the two main Communications Consoles and Sai and Miriallia manning some of the CIC consoles.

"It's not that I want to fight," Kira clarifies, "But I do wanna protect this ship. Because of the people on-board."

"It's the same for all of us." Mu counters, "You won't find many people who fight for no reason, at all. We fight because unless we fight, we cannot protect."

Kira stands there for a few moments before breathing a sigh of relief.

"Okay, let me explain our plan to you…"

* * *

**Some time later…**

"Laurasia-Class approaching , 90 to stern!"

"In any case, think only about protecting this ship and yourself." Mu finally says to Kira as he embarks his Moebius Zero, both pilots fully clad in their Mobile Suits (including helmets).

"Y-yes!" Kira quickly responds, "Be careful, Lieutenant." And with that, Kira boosts himself away from the Mobile Armour and towards the Strike, still lost in thought.

"Athrun, will you come back as well to sink this ship?" Kira cannot help but think to himself. He's broken out of his thoughts when he sees Cagalli stood outside of the Strike's cockpit. She has lost her previous outfit and has adopted a standard maintenance uniform. The only difference is that she has tied the jacket around her waste and is wearing a tank-top. Kira feels a little embarrassed as the sight reminds him that she is a very pretty girl. He drifts over to the Strike and starts to get inside.

"Is the Mobile Suit alright?" He asks her as he settles into the seat, applying the restraints.

"Yeah, I didn't find anything wrong with it." Cagalli responds, "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Of course."

"Watch yourself and kick some ass!" With that she gave him quick thumbs up before closing the cockpit shut for him and floating away so he could make his way over to the catapult.

The hangar doors open and the Moebius Zero is pulled onto the Launch Catapult by the conveyor and tether.

"Moebius Zero, La Flaga, to the Linear Catapult!" Natarle calls over the intercom as the hangar doors shut behind the Mobile Armour and the burn shield rises behind it. The Catapult doors open, allowing the Mobile Armour to take off. Mu brings down his helmet's visor in signal that he's ready.

"Mu La Flaga, taking off!" Mu calls over the communicator, "don't let them sink you before I return!" THE Moebius is released from its clamp as "Launch Clear" appears three times on the Catapult Indicator, informing Mu's allowance to launch.

Meanwhile, on the bridge, Romero informs his Captain some pressing news.

"Laurasia-Class approaching, 50 to stern!" Romero calls out.

"Start Main Engine in two minutes!" She commands, "Strike, prepare to take off!"

"Strike, proceed to position!" Romero calls over the intercom. The Mobile Suit is manoeuvred, while still attached to its docking mount, onto the Launch Pad's foot clamps.

"Catapult connection! System, all green!"

This confirmation is heard upon deaf ears as Kira is currently rehearsing the strategy for this skirmish over in his head.

"The Lieutenant will move ahead secretly and hit the enemy in front of us." He evaluates as brings down his helmet's visor, "In the meantime, I will protect the ship from the enemy to the rear. Is this going to work?" He wonders doubtfully.

"Kira." Miriallia's voice calls over the communicator as well as he image appearing on the Communications Screen.

"Miriallia?" Kira exclaims.

"From now on, I will act as Combat Controller for the Mobile Suit and Mobile Armour." She informs him, "I'm counting on you!" She winks and gives him a peace sign.

"We're all counting on you!" Tolle interjects, to which Kira smiles.

The roof opens up as a Loading Arm descends through it, carrying the large red and black Boosters that Make up a part of the AQM/E-X01 "Aile" Striker Pack. The right hatch opens as another loading arm carrying the 57MM High Energy Beam Rifle with the left hatch carrying the red and yellow shield.

"Mount the Aile Striker!" Natarle commands over the Communicator, "The enemy will be here as soon as the Archangel fires its engines! Be ready!"

"Right!"

The left and right Launch Catapult opens up to reveal the "Lohengrin" Positron Cannon armed and ready to fire.

"Start engines!" Murrue commands, "Fire main cannons. Target: The Nazca-Class directly ahead of us."

The Archangel's engines roar into life as the White Ship begins to make its advance.

"Lohengrin, fire!" Natarle commands. The two cannons let off their large intense beams of Red Light that go streaming directly towards the Vessalius.

* * *

**Vessalius…**

"Heat Source approaching from ahead and large heat source detected behind it!" the Sensor Officer calls out to Fredrik, "It's a warship!"

"Evasive Action!" He orders.

"I see that they're firing in confusion, now that they've seen us." Rau surmises.

Meanwhile, Mu watches from his Moebius Zero as the large, intense red beam veers straight past him and continues its course towards the Nazca-Class.

* * *

**Gamow…**

"Heat Source detected!" The communications Officer informed Captain Zelman, "supposedly from the enemy warship!"

"Launch Mobile Suits!" He commands.

The Three G-Weapons located in the Hangar (Duel, Buster, Blitz)'s eyes all blare into life as the Duel is the first to detach itself from its mount, ready to launch.

"I'll believe what you said earlier, Athrun Zala." Rau Le Creuset, aboard the Vessalius, informs the Red soldier who is currently located in the cockpit of the Aegis and clad in a ZAFT Red Normal Suit.

"Yes, sir!" Athrun replies. His communicator screen suddenly bursts into life as Miguel who is in the GINN (it was easily and quickly repaired due the large number of GINN parts on board) appears on the screen clad in the ZAFT Green Normal Suit. "What is it, Miguel?" Athrun asks with curiosity in his tone.

"Just wondering if you're going to be able to carry this mission through with no issue." He replies, "you won't let what we discussed affect you,right?" Athrun smiles at this.

"Don't worry, I know the importance of this mission." Miguel smiles back.

"That's good, then."

The Launch Catapult for the Vessalius opens as the Aegis prepares to launch as it levitates itself into the air. The Sign confirms that the Mobile Suit is clear for launch so the Aegis is flung out of the Launch Bay, detaching its power cable and activating its Phase Shift. Miguel's standard GINN (armed with a Heavy Sword and Heavy Machine Gun (they ran out of "D" Equipment)) then follows suit and launches from the Vessalius after the Aegis.

* * *

**Archangel…**

"Two Mobile Suits have launched from the Nazca-Class!" Dalida informs Natarle.

"Captain?!" Natarle queries Murrue.

"Please!" She responds. Natarle the directs her attention to Miriallia, the Combat Operator.

"Have Kira Yamato take off in the Strike!" She commands. Miriallia grasps hold of her headset's microphone.

"Kira!"

"Roger!" Kira responds.

The Archangel's right catapult doors opens, once again, as the Strike stands there patiently on the Launch Catapult. Kira takes a nervours breath and wraps his fingers around one of the Control Sticks to try and calm himself, taking a firm grip on the device.

Meanwhile, the Duel, Blitz and Buster have all launched from the Gamow their Mobile Suits colouring themselves to signify that they have activated their Phase Shift Armour. The Duel's White, Blue and Orange. The Buster's sandy yellow and green and the Blitz's red and black.

Kira shuts his eyes as he reminisces over the strong words that his friends and comrades have given him over the course of these few hours. As the Launch Sign reads "Launch Clear," Kira's eyes open with new found determination.

"Kira Yamato, Gundam, Taking off!"

The Mobile Suit flies across the Catapult and flings off the end, detaching its power cable. The Aile Strike's wings fold up as the Phase Shift activates, colouring the Mobile Suit and preparing it for battle.

_**Nothing spectacular happened here and I hated every moment I had to write Flay (wonder how I am going to cope with Lacus), but here's chapter 4. I hope you enjoy it.**_

_**Now if you don't mind, I am going to take a break.**_

_**R-0 out!**_


	5. Chapter 5: Five Against One

_**Hello everyone, R-0 here and welcoming you to the next**_** chapter.**

_**But first, Review and Answer time! As always, people who I PM won't receive an answer for obvious reasons.**_

_**mafia king: As I have already stated, I will try and formulate something for Flay's character. I cannot make any guarantees that I will find something, however, I will attempt to. Please do not be upset if nothing comes to fruition because, as you said, her key plot point is null and void.**_

_**Ayatane Elemia: All the technical referencing I only really do once or do it for weapons that are well known by their codename. Notice how I haven't called the Anti-Ship Sword the "schwert gewehr" in a while and, vice versa, frequently refer to the Archangel's Positron Cannons as "Lohengrin."**_

_**The Desert section is probably where the most divergence is going to occur and is something I do look forward to writing.**_

_**No worries about your nationality. I have definitely seen people my own nationality write things that are completely incoherent to me.**_

_**littlemsstrawberry: "Sigh" I guess I best make this clear. (Clears Throat) AsuCaga is non-existent in this fanfic. There is not even going to be undertones about it. Why? Well, if you are comfortable with spoilers, I'll give you a little hint: The certain incident that formed the basis of AsuCaga is going to go VERY differently this time and will make clear sense why AsuCaga can't even make sense in this universe. I am sorry if this has saddened you and I will not be upset if you cease reading this fanfic, but this is the direction it is going and that is NOT subject to change.**_

_**mega1987: Don't know who Houko is so that reference went STRAIGHT over my head, sorry. I also don't know what MP stands for.**_

_**Code R.R: Indeed it does.**_

_**edboy4926: Thank you and you're welcome.**_

_**Fireminer: My speed is so quick because I am in the afterglow of my school year after all my exams so I don't get much homework now. I get a chance every weekend now.**_

_**Gundam has never tried to be an anti-war message. Tomino wanted to portray a realistic portrayal of war in a futuristic environment and how neither side is in the wrong. It was when you get to the Cosmic Era and they start to get REALLY preachy with their anti-war message to the point where they beat you over the head with it. It portrayed war in a very "GoodVSBad" sort of way, especially in Destiny. This sort of portrayal only belongs in a Super Robot anime like Mazinger, Getter Robo or GurrenLagann.**_

_**You know, you say that, but I'm a ZeekFanboy. I don't think Zeon is THATbad; it was only when Gihren was put in charge when they basically became Space Nazis. There are some cool characters (Bernie, Ramba, Gato, Cima, Johnny, Dozle, Shin, etc…) in their army. They're just victims of persecution by Earth and were purely defensive to start. Their hatred, unfortunately, got the better of them and they became the aggressors in the war. Feddies can go suck it! Zeon all the way! They have much cooler Mobile Suits (Zaku Kai, Kampfer, GelgoogJager, Zudah, etc…) and, unlike the Federation, aren't led by a group of cowardly douchebags who only care about themselves. Sure, Gihren's a dictator, but at least he wants what's best for his Nation.**_

_**Worldwanderer2.0: Miguel may be a friendly big-brother figure to the Le Creuset Team, but he's still an experienced and competent soldier and knows how to think objectively. He knows that Athrun's history with Kira can have dangerous consequences on the battlefield and doesn't want that to affect their chances of winning these skirmishes. However, he's still sympathetic to his situation and that's why he's giving him a chance. You'll see what I mean after the battle.**_

_**Be patient! Cagalli will get her time to shine, that I promise you! I have a very particular moment picked out just for that occasion. If you can hold on until then, I hope you will be greatly satisfied with that Sub-Plot.**_

_**As I said, I hate Flay. What I respect, however, is that she is one of the few characters to undergo some serious growth throughout the series. Granted, that growth may have not been positive, but I think it's a nice representation of what war can do to a person's psyche. It just aggravated her already racist ideals and took advantage of the fact that she likes people to follow her around. It portrayed a realistic sense of "not every character on the hero's side is good." And that's what I credit her character for. She's still a slut, though. You're on the right track with your theories. Cagalli won't let no harpy try and take advantage of a person she has come to care deeply for. Cagalli can see through bullshit like a clean window being raised around politicians and all.**_

_**Lacus is just a bad character. It's hard enough to believe that a Pop Star could gain access to one of ZAFT's strongest prototypes, but manages to amass a whole army under her, ready to follow her every command mindlessly?! Bullshit! Suddenly, she's the solution to everybody's problem in Destiny and it pissed me the hell off the serious favouritism she was getting (Durandalliterally said that she has more power and influence than him). It screams Mary Sue in every way, shape and form. She's a goddamn terrorist who forces her ideals on others and, if you don't agree with them, you're a villain, by default. I hate her even more than I hate Flay!**_

_**I think you misunderstand where the "Jesus" Yamato moniker originated from. People call him that because he survived THREE scenarios that he should not have survived (being at point blank-range to a self-destructing Aegis, surviving the Genesis despite being engulfed in the blast as Rau was and surviving having his cockpit be impaled by the Impulse's Excalibur). I understand why he got to be a skilled pilot, fighting off 4 other Gundams practically requires you to get REALLY good REALLY quickly, so I can accept that. Do I think he's the best Gundam Pilot in terms of character and skill? Nope. Do I think Heero is a good character? Nope. He's a bland archetype and a pretty boy. In general, I dislike Wing because it started the trend in Gundam of the Gundams being stupidly overpowered and being the solution to everyone's problems. I mean, a Leo punched a Gundam and its arm shattered! That's so stupid!**_

_**I'll have to, unfortunately, disagree with you on both accounts of Gundam 00 and After WarGundam X. The Mobile Suits in 00 were justifiably OP as they were running off an incredible power source, so I can let the nature of them go. I mean, there were aliens in the series and the presence of GN Particles allowed the Mobile Suits to be tough. Even in the final battle, the endgame Gundams still struggled against the ELS and the Quanta probably would have as well if it hadn't just casually flown through the battlefield. Double X and Gundam X are not OP in the slightest. Sure, they got an incredibly powerful weapon, but unlike the Freedom and Strike Freedom's full burst, you can't abuse it. The Satellite Cannon has a significantly long charge time and the Mobile Suit must be still. Not only that, but the Mobile Suit itself isn't that tough, it's pretty basic in terms of weaponry and moves like a slug both in atmosphere, and in space, requiring the G-Falcon to be able to move decently. Also, that weapon is just dead weight if the Microwave Transmitter is ever disabled. You can't consider them OP as their very nature is completely justified within the context of the Universe. Their overpowered nature is off-set by something. What excuse does Fukuda give for how OP the Strike Freedom is? NONE! It's too flashy and completely invincible for me to consider it a Real Type. There's no flaw to it, no issue that a strategist can exploit and is way ahead of everything else. The Freedom was passable because Kira still struggled against his opponents. He never had that struggle in the Strike Freedom.**_

_**Kira's retarded "don't shoot cockpits" principle is stupid for so many reasons. It's a war anime! Spare an enemy and they'll come after you even angrier and hell bent on killing you! Look at Gundam Age and Kio's fight against Fram. If he did his job and killed her when he had the chance, he would have saved the lives of Jonathon and Obright! But no, in the middle of battle, he wanted to "talk" to her and what did that cause? Fram went into a rage and smacked the little ass-wipe upside the head.I face-palmed so badly at that moment. I agree with his initial motivations and I would have preferred that they remained unchanged.**_

_**Sorry about that little rant, I get VERY passionate when it comes to Gundam. I don't want you to think that I hate the Cosmic Era and fanboy over the Universal Century. Universal Century is probably the best universe, but that doesn't mean I think the others suck. SEED was very good for 80% of the series, but started to take a dip within the final 10 episodes. SEED Destiny had some serious potential and looked to rival the originals that inspired them. Unfortunately, a lack of objective thinking (having his wife write the script(this was made worse by the fact that she was going through cancer)), serious writer bias (she cosplayed with her husband as Lacus and Kira at a wedding (not sure if it was their own)), a director who gave into peer pressure (the fans wanted Kira back as the protagonist and he gave in) and some serious backstage issues (apparently, arguments with several of the Voice Actors broke out) all ruined that potential. It was REALLY good for the first ten or so episodes, but started to slowly decline after that point once the old cast came back into play. This decline ultimately culminated post Phase 35 as every good aspect of Shinn was thrown down the drain and was turned into a barking lackey for the stupidest of reasons (Durandal: here's a shiny new Gundam, Shinn, now obey my every command! Shinn: Yes, Sir, just gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme!). I will gladly say that Stargazer, despite being significantly shorter than both series, was far superior to them and, if afull 13 episode series is made, it would easily wipe the floor with them and be just as good as the originals. Stargazer suffered none of their problems. There was an objective director and a script-writer who didn't let their favouritism get the better of them. In my opinion, SEED and Destiny would have been epic had they been done by the guys who did Stargazer.**_

_**Again, I'm sorry for getting a little too passionate with my response. These are simply my opinions and you do not have to agree with them.**_

_**Anyway, Let's begin the next chapter.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED or its respective materials.**_

* * *

Chapter 5: Five Against One

The three G-Weapons launched from the Laurasia-Class (Duel, Buster, Blitz), all activating their respective Phase Shift Armours to prepare for the Archangel. They eventually come into range of the Archangel as Dalida's sensors managed to successfully read their presence, three small blips on his Console appear informing him of this development, each of these blips heading to their position.

"Three Heat Sources approaching from the rear!"He informs the bridge crew, "They're Mobile Suits!"

"They're here!" Murrue mutters to herself.

"Prepare for Anti-Mobile Suit combat," Natarle commands the personnel operating the CIC, "Load Korinthos into missile tubes 13 through 24!"

Upon this command, the rear missile Launchers open to reveal the large Missiles labelled "Korinthos." Three of these flaps opened to reveal six Missiles primed and ready to fire at the enemy.

"Activate the Valiant Linear Cannon!" She continues to issue her commands. The large circles on the side of the Archangel's centre both separate as the "Valiant MK8" 110CM Linear Cannons rise out from their berth, their cannons extending in preparation for the oncoming foes. "Input Target data, hurry!" She urges the CIC operators.

"Machine type confirmed!" Dalida informs the CIC Chief, "Why these are…" He pauses in surprise, "the X Numbers! Duel, Buster and Blitz!"

"What?!" Natarle exclaims in surprise at this shocking development, Murrue and the rest of the Bridge Crew all gasp at this shocking development as the realisation that this skirmish is going to be much more difficult to come out of than they initially thought.

"So they're using all the G-Weapons they took against us?" Murrue wonders out loud as Natarle still struggles with this revelation.

* * *

**Approaching from the Front…**

Meanwhile, Athrun (along with Miguel) also approaches the Archangel from the front. He has a strong and confident expression on his face until he sees something that gives him pause. This is, of course, the sight of the Strike, standing guard from the oncoming assault. Miguel also notices the Mobile Suit and a scowl makes its way across his features, the near death experience he had with the enemy entering his mind. He glances towards Athrun's Mobile Suit as he cannot help but wonder if it is true and, if so, what Athrun is going to do about it.

"Oi, Athrun." Miguel calls over to his ally, snapping Athrun out of his thought pattern as he quickly replies to the message.

"Y-yes?"

"I'm going to go on ahead and assist the attack on the enemy warship." Miguel informs him, "Distract the Strike so I can get past."

"E-eh?" Athrun asks with a confused tone at this action.

"With my current Mobile Suit and equipment," Miguel begins to explain, "I'm basically a moving target for the Strike. I'll be more useful helping out the assault on the ship."

"R-right."

"And besides," Miguel adds, "I promised to give you a chance with that Mobile Suit and I'm a man of my word. I'd just make things harder for you if I got in the way."

Athrun sits there for a few moments struggling to comprehend what Miguel means with that statement. That is until the conversation Athrun had with Miguel flashes through his brain as he remembers that Miguel told him he'd let him try once with the Strike's pilot. If he fails, Miguel is going to gladly try and destroy the Strike and its pilot.

That thought alone scares Athrun and only spurs him on to try and convince Kira to join their side, preventing the wrath of his team-mates.

"Thanks." He responds, Miguel smiles a little.

"Don't mention it."

On the Strike's end, the Strike's sensors blare into life, informing him of the incoming enemies.

"Two units," he mutters to himself. He reminisces about when Mu told him to simply focus on protecting the ship and himself, "that's easier said than done," he, once again, mutters as he ignites the Strike's boosters.

The Aegis' scanners take note of the Strike as a zoomed in image of the approaching Mobile Suit appears on its display and Athrun properly takes it in.

"Kira," he says out loud to himself.

The Strike's scanners also perform this action as they zoom in on the approaching GINN and Aegis.

"That Mobile Suit, Athrun?!" Kira cannot help but wonder to himself.

* * *

**Meanwhile, at the flank…**

Duel, Buster and Blitz also close in on the Archangel. Yzak takes the lead in the Duel, Nicol follows behind in the Blitz and Dearka brings up the rear in the Buster.

"Athrun has already taken off from the Vessalius!" Yzak informs his two comrades, "don't be late!" Dearka gives a little scoff at this.

"Not by that guy!" Dearka remarks as the three ZAFT Reds all split up in separate directions to give the Archangel a wider area of fire to cover. Dalida, on the Archangel, notices this.

"Enemy Mobile Suits have spread out!" he informs the Bridge's crew.

"Commence interception!" Murrue orders as she turns towards Natarle, "CIC! What's taking you?" Natarle makes a little gasp as she snaps out of her trance and turns towards Jackie.

"Laser Designator ready?" She inquires.

"Yes!" He responds. She turns back towards her front.

"Missile tubes 13 through 18, fire!" She commands. The large Missiles are launcher from the berths and veer, all at different directions, towards the attacking Mobile Suits, "Load Sledgehammers into tubes 7 through 12! Korinthos Missiles 19 through 24! Fire!" This large volley of missiles all veer towards the enemies.

Meanwhile, Athrun stows away his Beam Rifle on the side skirt and brandishes one of the Aegis' arm mounted Beam Sabres. Kira responds by pulling one of his own beam sabres mounted in the backpack. Neither attacks as the Aegis flies straight past the Strike, not attacking. Meanwhile, while Kira is distracted by this moment, Miguel's GINN flies past from his rear and veers towards the Archangel. The Strike's sensors alert Kira to this as he lets out a small gasp of realisation is about to intercept.

"Kira!" A familiar voice calls over his communicator, ceasing his action of chasing after the GINN as he refocuses back on the Aegis as a familiar face appears on the communicator screen.

"Athrun?!" he exclaims.

"Stop it!" Athrun yells at his friend, "Put your sword away, Kira! We're not enemies, are we?"

Both the Strike and Aegis continue to circle around each other, neither unleashing an attack on the other at the risk of harming their friend.

"Why are we fighting against each other?" Athrun calls out to his friend.

"Athrun…" Kira trails.

"Why must you, a coordinator like us, fight against us?" Athrun pleads to his friend. These words give Kira pause as he tightens his grip around the control lever and grunts a little to signify his frustrations at this situation.

Meanwhile, Yzak continues to close in on the quarrelling friends as a he shoots down a pair of "Korinthos" Missiles that tried their luck at scoring a hit on him. He easily shot them down using his head mounted CIWS. His communicator blares into life as Miguel's familiar face appears on it.

"How's it going, Yzak." Miguel asks rhetorically.

"Glad to see you made it, Miguel." Yzak remarks, "I thought you'd chicken out and hide on the ship." Miguel gives a little scoff at that remark.

"As if I'd miss out on this witch hunt after a prize like this!" He replies, "I've left the Strike to Athrun and am going after the Enemy Ship. You may want to go back him up."

"So you did chicken out and chose not to fight the Strike?" Yzak remarks.

"There's a difference between chickening out and choosing not to fight battles you know you can't win."

"Yeah, whatever!" Yzak mutters, "Dearka and Nicol, go after the ship with Miguel!" He commands his team-mates, "I'll attack the Mobile Suit with Athrun!"

"Roger!" Nicol responds as he makes use of the Beam Rifle inside his arm-mounted "Trikeros" Offensive Shield System to shoot down an oncoming missile. He dodges another which approached him from behind and also shoots the missile down.

"You hear that too, Dearka?"Miguel enquires as he also successfully shot down some incoming missiles using his Heavy Machine Gun, the volley of bullets easily ripping apart the missiles that were charging at him from the front. He also slices another Missile in half horizontally using his Heavy Sword which he brandishes in his Mobile Suit's left hand.

The Duel brandishes his 350MM Gun Launcher at the large volley of missiles approaching him and lets off a shotgun-like burst of fire, easily destroying the missiles that threatened to impact his Mobile Suit. The Buster easily making up for its sluggish nature with its superior firepower.

"What?" He whines. His eyes travel to the communicator screen as Yzak's face appears.

"I don't want any complaints, Dearka!" Yzak scolds him, "it'll be a huge catch!"

The Archangel's CIWS "Igelstelung" attempts to shoot down the Duel as it flies away from the battleship towards the duelling Mobile Suits. This does not work as the Mobile Suit easily evades the oncoming bullets as well as a blast from the Archangel's "Valiant" cannons. The Buster and Blitz charge pass by the Duel as they charge towards the White Battleship from the left front while Miguel and his GINN come from the right front.

Natarle sees these Mobile Suits come in from both sides.

"Valiants, fire!" She commands the CIC crew. Both "Valiant" Cannons fire off a couple of shots at the approaching Mobile Suit. The Port "Valiant" fires at the Buster and Blitz while the Starboard "Valiant" fires at the GINN. Unfortunately, the large yellow blasts unsuccessfully miss their targets as the pilots manage to just evade the fire. The pilots grunt in annoyance at the battleship's sizeable firepower.

As Miguel, Dearka and Nicol get in sufficient range of the Archangel to begin their assault and fly around the ship to avoid enemy fire, Kira notices how close they have gotten and turns to fly back to the Archangel to assist the lone Battleship. "The Archangel!" He exclaims as he is about to fly back, but not before Athrun and his Aegis appear in front of him to prevent Kira from assisting the Archangel. Kira flies backwards away from the enemy Mobile Suit as the Aegis gives chase, neither Mobile Suit still attacking the other.

"Stop it, Kira!" Athrun pleads to his friend, desperate to prevent his suffering.

"Athrun!" Kira responds.

"What are you doing with the Earth Forces?" Athrun asks with a disbelieving tone, "why are you siding with the Naturals?"

Kira turns around in his Mobile Suit and flies upwards away from the Aegis, the salmon Mobile Suit looking up towards the fleeing enemy.

"I'm not a member of the Earth Forces!" Kira assures his friend to which Athrun gives him a confused look, "there are people I know on that ship! My friends are on that ship!" He asserts to Athrun. The Strike turns to face the Aegis and continues to fly backwards away from it, it's shield held in front of it to prevent potential damage, however, Kira still refuses to attack his friend.

"So why are you a part of ZAFT?" Kira counters, "why are you taking part in this war?!" Athrun's eyes widen at that question, clearly distressed by it. This lapse gives Kira the opportunity to move himself even further away as he ignites the Aile pack's boosters to gain some distance from the Aegis, the two Mobile Suits still continue to circle each other hesitantly.

"You used to say you hated war!" Kira continues, "so why did you assault Heliopolis?"

"Because the Naturals, who fail to understand this situation went and made these things!" Athrun explains with a heated tone.

"But Heliopolis is neutral!" Kira counters, "So am I! Yet…!" Kira is unable to finish his statement as an "ALERT" Message appears on his helmets display with the Strike's sensors blaring into life. Kira quickly boosts upwards to avoid a burst of shots that originate from the Duel's 57MM high energy Beam Rifle (with 175MM Grenade Launcher), the Blue Mobile Suit quickly advancing on the Strike.

"Why aren't you attacking, Athrun?!" Yzak queries with an aggressive tone. The Aegis backs away and pauses as Athrun takes in Yzak's presence.

"Yzak?" Athrun asks out loud with a confused tone.

The Strike's radar suddenly recognises another reading labelled "X-102" alongside the Aegis' "X-103" reading.

"X-102 Duel?!" Kira mutters to himself with an anxious tone, "Then this, too?!" He quickly blocks a shot from the Duel and manages to successfully evade two others, but the Blue Mobile Suit is unrelenting and chases after the fleeing Strike.

* * *

**Archangel…**

The three Mobile Suits (GINN, Blitz and Buster) continue their assault on the White Battleship, the Blitz itself having just avoided some blasts from the "Valiant" Cannons and continues its advance followed closely by Nicol's two comrades.

"Evasive Manoeuvres," Murrue hastily commands, "Maximum speed!"

"Fire Anti-Beam depth charges!" Natarle orders her CIC crew. These devices are launched from the Archangel and explode, creating a large bright light and allowing the effect of some beams being dissipated before impacting on the Archangel.

"Igelstellungs!" Natarle begins to order, "don't allow the enemy to get any closer to the ship!"

The Automated CIWS Gun Turrets continue to fire on the attacking Mobile Suits with a continuous stream of bullet, hoping to at least keep them at a firm distance.

"Set Helldarts to Auto-launch!" Natarle continues to order. The Bridge Tower Missile Launchers fire their payload of small "Helldart" Missiles at the enemy Mobile Suit.

The Blitz is able to black the oncoming "Igelstellungs" with its Offensive Shield System and flying backwards to avoid oncoming fire. Unfortunately, the "Helldart" Missiles manage to make contact with the Black Mobile Suit, causing the cockpit to vibrate harshly and a bright light to fill up Nicol's screen, causing him to grunt in annoyance.

Dearka also makes a small grunt as he begins to open fire with his 94MM High-Energy Rifle. Some of the shots dissipate, but one manages to break through the Anti-Beam Field and impact against the surface of the Archangel on one of the panels on the Port side, causing a large smudge of burnt metal to be left behind and venting air. The impact causes the ship to shake violently as the Bridge Crew all grunt in pain at the shaking. This also occurs throughout the ship as the refugees all cry out in terror including Flay Allster.

"What's going on?!" She cries out in terror, "what's going on?"

The damage doesn't end here as Miguel, despite distancing himself from the Archangel manages to easily use this moment and fires a large burst of Heavy Machine Gun rounds. Since they are unaffected by the Anti-Beam Depth Charges, the bullets easily sail towards the Archangel and make contact with the Starboard "Igelstellung" Gun Turrets, causing the weapons to explode. These explosions make the Battleship shake violently again.

"Eat that!" Miguel yells out gleefully, letting go of one of the controls and fist pumping in triumph.

"What the hell was that?!" Natarle queries out loud.

"Port-side Hull was heavily damaged!" Jackie responds, "Starboard Igelstellungs are… all destroyed?!" He declares with a disbelieving tone.

"What?!" Murrue also yells out with disbelief.

"Contact the Strike!" Natarle orders, "tell him we need him back here!"

"He's still engaged in combat with the Aegis and Duel!" Dalida explains.

"Do it anyway!"

Unfortunately, the Strike isn't much position to even manage to help itself, much less manage to protect the Archangel as it continues to flee from the aggressive Duel and its pilot. Chasing the Strike like an angry bull as it continues lets off blasts from its beam rifle at the retreating Mobile Suit.

"That rascal!" Yzak exclaims, "Does he only know how to run away?!"

Kira gives a short gasp as he continues to try and avoid the relentless Mobile Suit. Unfortunately, he is distracted as he sees that the Archangel is trying to communicate with him. Taking this as some form of urgency, he turns around and brandishes his Beam Rifle at the attacking Mobile Suit. The targeting apparatus in his cockpit deploys forward in front of his eyes to improve his aiming. He begins to fire at the Duel.

The Archangel does not manage to take a break as the Buster launches a barrage of Missiles at the Archangel from above. Unfortunately, the Archangel's remaining CIWS manages to dispatch these missiles before they impact against its hull.

"Dammit!" Dearka complains, "It's well-armed! How are we going to get through it?!"

"I know!" Miguel agrees, flying next to Dearka as he reloads his Heavy Machine Gun, swapping out the current Magazine with another, "I just managed to get a lucky shot in!"

"I'll go at it from below!" Nicol responds, alerting Dearka to his presence as he momentarily flies between him and Miguel, "You and Miguel cover me!"

"Right!" They both respond.

The Blitz quickly flies through the bulletstorm and manages to get beneath the Archangel as Dearka continues to fire burst of energy at the Archangel from its right side while Miguel fires on it from the left.

"Enemy Mobile Suit moving below us!" Dalida calls out.

"Lower Section Igelstellungs!" Natarle orders, "commence interception!"

The CIWS Gun Turrets located on the underside of the Archangel take aim at the Blitz and begin firing, preventing the Black Mobile Suit from attacking the ship's flank.

"We'll use the Gottfrieds!" Murrue declares, "Left roll 30 degrees and twenty to port!"

"Left roll 30 degrees!" Neumann repeats to himself, "Port 20!"

The Archangel quickly turns and pivots to the left so that it can aim its "Gottfried" Beam Cannon down towards the flanking Blitz. Unfortunately, these sudden turn can be felt throughout the ship as the refugees and crewmen all struggle to hang onto something for dear life including Flay Allster, who clutches onto a bed post, and Cagalli who clutches one of the catwalks railings.

"No!" Flay cries out.

"This is something they should have warned us about!" Cagalli exclaims.

The Archangel deploys its port-side "Gottfried" and takes aim at the the Buster and Blitz while the Starboard "Gottfried" takes aim at the GINN. Both cannons fire their large and intense beams of light but it is for nothing as all three Mobile Suits manage to evade the shots and continue their assault.

* * *

**Vessalius…**

"Enemy Vessel approaching! Distance 740!" The Communications Officer calls out, "message from the Gamow: 'Our ship has also confirmed total enemy battle force to be one Mobile Suit.'"

"So that Mobile Armour is still not ready for sortie, I see." Rau remarks, causing Fredrik to turn his chair slightly to regard him.

"I believe we can make that assumption." Fredrik adds, clearly agreeing with the sentiment. Rau just quietly sits there for a few moments before bringing his hand up to his chin and a pensive expression gracing his features. A slight "hmm" can be heard leaving his mouth to indicate this.

* * *

**Back to the Battle…**

The Strike continues to rain fire on the Duel, but the Blue Mobile Suit manages to avoid every shot even with Kira using the Targeting system to assist him.

"Dammit, Dammit, Dammit!" Kira continuously cries out in frustration and terror, completely oblivious to his quickly declining Power Gauge.

"Not with the way you're fighting!" Yzak remarks as he holsters his Beam Rifle and brandishes one of his Beam Sabres. Kira cries out at the sight of this as the blade of Pink Energy clashes with his shield. Kira breaks the clash and flies to the left to try and get a shot off, unfortunately missing and causing the Strike to chase him again as Kira flies away when Yzak swipes at him again.

Meanwhile, Athrun can only watch as Kira runs from Yzak's assault with a worried expression.

* * *

**Near the Vessalius…**

The familiar orange Mobile Armour is slowly navigating through debris underneath the Vessalius, waiting for the most opportune moment to strike.

"Not yet." He mutters to himself.

"Enemy Vessel approaching, distance 630!" The Communications Officer calls out on the bridge of the nearby Nazca-Class, "it will shortly enter our ship's firing range!"

"We will begin our attack." Rau declares to his confidant. Fredrik turns towards him.

"But our Mobile Suits are still out there!" Fredrik protests, "firing the main cannon would…"

"None of our guys would be clumsy enough to be hit by friendly fire." Rau smoothly counters. "But our counterparts will be firing at us." Fredrik looks at Rau with a surprised expression before steeling it and turn back forwards to address the bridge-crew.

"Prepare to fire main cannon!" Fredrik orders, "Target enemy vessel!"

"Prepare to fire cannon!" One of the Gunnery Officers repeats.

"Target enemy vessel!" The other continues. The two large 177MM Beam Cannons on the nose of the Vessalius all tilt forward and adjust themselves to begin firing at the approaching Archangel.

* * *

**Battle…**

Yzak lets out a battle cry as he slashes at the Strike, once again, but ultimately fails and the Strike evades, the defending Mobile Suit continuously firing at the Duel while the Aegis continues to remain idle during the whole ordeal. Due to Kira's panicked state, he fails to notice that his Power Gauge has already dropped into Yellow from excessively using his Beam Rifle. Luckily, he still has sense enough to notice the new presence of the Buster.

"Yzak!" Dearka calls to his friend. He fires bursts of energy at the Strike as Kira can only gasp at his constantly decreasing luck.

* * *

**Near the Vessalius…**

Meanwhile, the Moebius Zero's sensors start to buzz into life as Mu continues to inch forward, informing the Pilot that he has reached the correct position.

"Got it!" He mutters to himself.

* * *

**Archangel…**

"Laser Designator sensed from the Nazca-Class ahead of us!" Dalida informs the bridge-crew, "They're targeting this ship! They're locked onto us!" Natarle's eyes widen as a surprised expression crosses her features momentarily before she turns and calls up to Murrue.

"Captain!" She calls. Murrue can only sit there quietly as a silent moan works its way through her mouth, clearly signifying frustration and worry, "prepare to fire Lohengrin!" this statement causes Murrue to snap out of her trance as her eye's widen and she quickly turns around.

"Wait!" Murrue protests, "The Lieutenant's Zero is approaching the enemy! Evasive action!"

"That's risky!" Natarle counters, "Unless we fire, we'll be hit!"

Murrue smacks the arm of her chair with a scrunched-up fist in frustration at their predicament as an anxious expression is clear on her features.

"Laurasia-Class approaching fast from stern!"

* * *

**Battle…**

"Athrun! Yzak!" Dearka addresses his team-mates, "what are you doing let's cut him off!"

Kira continues to fire at both the Duel and Buster before he realises that he is surrounded on all sides. The Buster at his flank. The Duel is at his right side. The GINN is at his left side and the Blitz and Aegis at his front. Kira can only give a nervous growl at his predicament.

"Dearka!" Athrun calls to his teammates.

"Athrun!" Nicol calls to him.

* * *

**Vessalius…**

A sudden familiar feeling crosses through Rau Le Creuset, a feeling he knows only occurs when someone when very particular is in close proximity.

At that moment, Mu ignites his Mobile Armour's boosters and charges towards the Nazca-Class from underneath. All the while, he lets out a passionate battle cry.

"Boost engines to maximum!" Rau suddenly commands, "Lower bow, pitch angle 60!"

"Huh?" Fredrik asks confusedly before the ship's alarms blare into life, alerting the captain.

"Heat source approaching from below!" The Sensor Officer informs him, "it's a Mobile Armour!"

"What?!" Fredrik exclaims, "Activate CIWS! Boost engines to maximum! Lower bow, pitch angle 60!"

The Large battleship activates its orientation thrusters to tilt the ship downwards to face the approaching Mobile Armour. The unit in question deploys its GunBarrels and begins to open fire as it charges through the Bullet Storm from the Nazca-class' CIWS that rains open it. The Mobile Armour also opens fire with its Linear Gun. This combined onslaught of firepower is enough for Mu to complete his objectives as the projectiles impact against the Vessalius' starboard engine, causing the crew of the Vessalius to groan a little from the sudden vibrations throughout the ship as it starts to lose orientation.

"Alright!" Mu cries out cockily. He fires a wired rocket into the hull of the Vessalius just as he passes by it. This causes him to quickly swing around so that flies back towards the direction of the Archangel and away from the now damaged enemy battleship.

"Major damage to engines!" One of the Bridge Officers called out, "we're losing thrust!"

"Enemy Mobile Armour has left!" Another Officer adds.

"Shoot it down!" Fredrik commands with an angered tone.

"Number 5 sodium wall damaged!" The Officer adds, "it's on fire! Damage control! Seal Bulkheads!"

"Damn you, Mu!" Rau thinks to himself as a very angered expression crosses his features. "We're leaving! Ades, send a message to the Gamow!"

* * *

**Archangel…**

"Message from Lieutenant La Flaga!" Jackie addresses Natarle, "Mission successful, he's on his way back!"

All of the bridge crew let out a cry of joy at the news, realising that their chances of reaching Artemis and safety just got a lot higher with this development. Murrue is much less vocal about her joy and instead restricts herself to a mild sigh of relief.

"We'll take this opportunity to attack the Nazca-Class in front of us!" She declares.

"Prepare to fire Lohengrin Numbers One and Two together!" Natarle orders her CIC crew.

"Send Lieutenant La Flaga a message to clear the area!" Murrue adds, "Also, tell the Strike to move away from the line of fire!"

"Positron bank breath chamber at maximum." Dalida declares, "Muzzle choke potential has stabilized! Opening Launchers.

As the Archangel prepares to unleash the dual Positron Cannons on the Vessalius, Kira is still engaged in heavy combat as four out of the five enemy Mobile Suits continue to rain a mixture of energy and bullets upon him. Exhausted, Kira receives a message in his helmet informing him of the impending rain of fire from the Archangel. This can be seen visually as the Launch Bay Doors open and the two "Lohengrin" Positron Cannons lower from their berths, both soon ready to fire.

The five ZAFT Pilots all cease their actions momentarily as they also receive a message also telling them to retreat. The only difference is that their reasoning is that their Battleship is heavily damaged.

"The Vesalius has been hit?!" Yzak asks incredulously.

"Why?" Nicol wonders.

"They want us to retreat?!" Dearka complains.

"The Strike must have just been a decoy!" Miguel realises.

In their moment of confusion, the Strike quickly flies away from their enclosed group. Unfortunately for Kira, they are easily alerted to his attempted retreat.

"Oh, shit!" Yzak exclaims as realises that they are in the Logengrin's line of fire. They all quickly ignite their boosters to avoid it as the two Large cannons fire their large bursts of red energy that charges straight towards the injured Nazca-Class, incinerating several pieces of debris as well as giving Mu a pleasant show as he returns back to the Archangel.

"Whoa!" Mu exclaims with a playful tone.

This does not bode well for the Vesalius as their sensors blare into life and alert them to the approaching threat.

"Heat source approaching!" The Communications Officer cries out with a worried tone, "direction: zero, zero, zero! Three seconds to impact!"

"Starboard: Maximum thrust!" Rau commands as he sweeps his arm in the air in an commanding manner, "dodge it!"

The Nazca-Class quickly veers to the right at the last second, preventing a large portion of the ship from being completely incinerated. Unfortunately, the red beam still makes contact with the left engine, causing the section to explode. The resounding vibrations carry through the ship as the Bridge Crew hold onto something as they are harshly thrown around, all crying out in terror and pain. Unfortunately, the Maintenance Crew working in the Engine Area are not so lucky as they are completely incinerated by the explosion. Rau can only let out a grunt of annoyance at this development.

"The Nazca-Class is leaving our ship's route!" Dalida confirms for his Captain.

"Signal the Strike to return!" Murrue orders, "The Archangel will proceed to Artemis at maximum speed!"

Upon this command, the Archangel fires three Signal Flares, all differently coloured (violet, green, blue). This three and large balls of light alert the Strike and his ZAFT enemies and they pause for a second. Kira gives a small gasp of relief that he can finally get away from his enemies.

"A return signal?!" Yzak exclaims with annoyance, "I'm not letting him! Not him!" He declares as he charges, once again and with Beam Sabre in hand, at the Strike who dodges another slash from the Duel and returns fire.

"Yzak!" Athrun scolds him, "we've been ordered to retreat!"

"Shut up, you coward!" Yzak returns, causing Athrun to grunt a little in annoyance as he watches his friends continue their attack on Kira. Most prominently being Dearka, Yzak and Miguel. Kira is relentlessly being attacked from all sides as he spins around in his cockpit as if on a Carnival Ride.

"Dammit" He cries out, "I can't like this!"

Athrun continues to watch with an ever anxious expression at his friend's impending death.

"Kira!" Miriallia, on the Archangel Bridge, cries out in worry for her friend.

"He's surrounded!" Jackie observes, "at this rate!"

"Back him up!" Murrue orders.

"It's impossible in that melee!" Natarle counters.

"Our distance from the Strike is increasing!" Jackie informs the crew.

"Kira…!" Tolle mutters with a worried tone.

"I'm worried about the power level remaining in the Strike!" Natarle mentions.

"I know!" Murrue responds, "Where's Lieutenant La Flaga?"

Meanwhile, as he makes his way back to his Battleship, Mu just receives the information that Kira is pinned down and unable to return back to the Archangel.

"He can't return?!" Mu asks incredulously, a small scoff making its way through his lips, "That idiot!"

At that moment, Kira cries out in terror as the Buster fires on him from the front,using both its Gun Launcher and Beam Rifle at the same time to rain down fire on the Strike. Kira deflects these shots and tries to return fire. The Duel charges at the Strike, from its right and brandishing both Beam Sabres, as Yzak lets out a battle cry. Kira gasps and moves to attack the Mobile Suit with his Beam Rifle, unfortunately, a small burst of bullets from the GINN rip through the Beam Rifle before he can use it, causing Kira to let go of the weapon. He goes for one of the Beam Sabres on his backpack and pulls it out, expecting to block the Duel. However, when he pulls out the weapon, no energy emits from the hilt. Confused, Kira looks at the Strike's power gauge.

"Out of power?!" He remarks as the emergency warning appears on his console, giving him cause for alarm, "Shit, my armour!"

As that realisation comes to him, the Strike decolours itself, leaving it in the drab Grey colour scheme, save for the colour of the shield and Aile Pack.

"Gotcha!" Yzak yells with a cocky tone.

The Strike moves to fly away, but its too slow as the Duel gets right behind it and is ready to deal the final blow to the weakened Mobile Suit. Athrun, realising this, growls a little before transforming the Aegis into its Mobile Armour form and veers straight towards the Strike.

Kira bends his head down and closes his eyes, expecting death to overtake him, fortunately, the violent vibrations around him cease as he opens his eyes to realise that he is in the claws (literally) of the Aegis' Mobile Armour form.

"Kira!" Miriallia cries out at the sight as Murrue and Natarle look on with shocked expressions at what just occurred.

"He's been captured!" Jackie confirms, "the Strike has been captured by the Aegis! Phase Shift Down!" He concludes as the crew give gasps of worry for the Mobile Suit and its pilot.

"What do you think you're doing, Athrun?!" Yzak queries with an angry tone.

"I'm capturing this machine!" He explains.

"What?"

"Our orders are to destroy it!" Dearka chips in, "you're ignoring orders!"

"If we have the chance to capture it, the better!" Athrun reasons, "we're retreating!"

"Athrun!" Yzak yells in anger.

Meanwhile, Miguel stays silent as he thinks about what just occurred and about the conversation he had with Athrun before all this began, putting the pieces together in his brain.

"So this is what you had in mind, eh, Athrun?" Miguel mutters to himself.

The Aegis flies away as the Duel, Buster, Blitz and the GINN all fly closely behind the salmon Mobile Armour.

"Damn, that bastard!" Yzak grinds through his teeth in annoyance at this development.

Meanwhile, Dalida's sensors inform him of something that he quickly relays to the rest of the Bride Crew, despite the shocking development.

"Laurasia-Class has closed the distance to 280!"

"Captain!" Natarle calls to her superior, hoping she will come up with some sort of solution to their current predicament.

"Kira! Kira!" Miriallia repeatedly calls over he console in distress, "please respond!"

"A message from Lieutenant La Flaga!" Jackie suddenly calls out, alerting the Captain, he reads the content of the message, "Prepare catapult to launch Launcher Striker!" He paraphrases with a confused tone.

"What?" Natarle queries with an equally confused tone as Murrue looks at them with a similar amount of confusion on their face.

As Mu approaches the battlefield, hoping that Kira will make use of this development, Kira can only sit in his cockpit in confusion as he Strike lies helpless in the clutches of the Aegis.

"Athrun!" Kira calls over the communicator, "What's the big idea?

"I'm taking you to the Gamow." Athrun responds.

"Get serious!" Kira retorts, "I'm not going on any ZAFT Ship!"

"You're a Coordinator!" Athrun counters, "One of us!"

"No!" Kira asserts, "I won't join ZAFT!"

"Cut it out, Kira!" Athrun replies hotly, causing Kira to go quiet, "Just let me take you. Otherwise, I'll have to shoot you!" As he says this, his hands shake violently as a distressed expression is clear on his face.

"Athrun…" Kira trails.

"I already lost my mom in the Bloody Valentine," Athrun explains, "So I…!"

He's unable to finish his sentence as the alarms in the Cockpit informing him of an enemy contact go off, alerting both Kira and Athrun. As they look to see what it is, Mu's Moebius Zero, with the sun behind it, detaches its GunBarrels and opens fire with both them and its own Linear Gun. The Aegis tries to evade the barrage of fire from the Mobile Armour, but some of the shots impact the Mobile Suit, causing Athrun to grunt in anger.

"Kid!" Mu calls over Kira's communicator.

"Lieutenant La Flaga!" Kira replies.

"A Mobile Armour?!" Dearka asks with a confused tone.

"Athrun!" Nicol calls to his friend.

"I know that bastard!" Miguel declares, "Son of a Bitch gave me some trouble when I was stationed at one our supply bases!"

The GunBarrels score another hit on the Aegis, causing Athrun to grunt again in aggravation.

"Dammit!" He exclaims as he is forced to transform into his Mobile Suit form, letting go of his hold on Kira who lets out a surprised gasp at his newfound freedom.

"Get away from there!" Mu commands, "The Archangel's sending out the launcher!"

As he says this, the Aegis chases after the Moebius Zero, causing Mu to retreat.

"We've still got the big one behind us!" Mu explains, "Hurry and make changes to prepare for it!"

As Mu finishes, Kira gives one last solemn look at the Aegis who is opening fire on the Moebius Zero with its Beam Rifle and head mounted CIWS. Flashes of his memories with his new friends, including Cagalli, flash across his mind.

"I understand." He simply responds as he ignites the Strike's boosters and retreats back towards the Archangel. The Aegis pauses for a second and watches.

"Kira!" Athrun cries in anger.

The Strike continues to fly away from the battlefield and manages to pass the Buster, Duel and GINN who both notice his attempt to flee.

"He's getting away!" Yzak observes.

"That idiot!" Dearka whines.

"Don't let the bastard get away!" Miguel orders, "He's still got no chance against even my GINN without his precious Phase Shift Armour!"

The three of them ignite their boosters and charge after the retreating Strike, letting off bursts of beams and bullets as they go. Unfortunately, they run into a barrage of cover fire from the Archangel who lets off a volley of Missiles and energy blasts to prevent the three of them from catching up to the Strike.

"Don't let them get closer to the Strike!" Natarle asserts.

"Petty Officer Murdoch!" Murrue calls over Captain Chair's Intercom, "Are you ready?"

"Anytime!" Murdoch responds, "but this is ridiculous!" he remarks as looks at the now-tethered Launcher Pack ready in the Launch Bay, only held in place by loading claws, "what if it gets shot down?"

"I know its crazy," Natarle agrees, "but it's a chance we must take!" She asserts sternly, causing Murdoch to flinch.

"Ensign Badgiruel!" Murrue addresses her comrade, "I'm counting on you to get the timing right!"

"Roger!" She responds, "Transfer the ship's controls to me!" she leans back into her chair, "Laser Designator: Online! Match relative speed with the Strike and forward the catapult's shoot-out-time control to Launcher Striker's computer!" As she makes this commands, the Launch Bay doors open in preparation and the Strike flies past the Archangel from the left.

Meanwhile, Mu is still locked in combat with the Aegis as Athrun evades the Moebius Zero's GunBarrels while Mu avoids the Aegis' beam rifle.

"Crap!" Mu exclaims, "What good will it do if I get shot down?!"

The Blitz flies into view and assists the Aegis in its skirmish.

"Athrun!" Nicol cries over the communicator as he opens fire on the Mobile Suit with the Beam Rifle in his Offensive Shield System, causing Mu to reattach his GunBarrels and boost away to avoid the oncoming fire.

At that moment, Dearka combines his Gun Launcher and Beam Rifle (the latter at the front) to form the Hyper Impulse Long Range Rifle and fires the combined weapon in the Strike's direction but misses. Miguel also follows up with a burst from his Heavy Machine Gun or at least he tries to. Unfortunately, after a few bullets, the Heavy Machine Gun makes a clicking sound indicating that there are no bullets left. Miguel goes for an extra clip but realises that that was, indeed, his last magazine. All of a sudden, the Duel comes out of nowhere and charges straight at the Strike.

"Yzak!" Dearka exclaims.

"That idiot!" Miguel yells in an annoyed tone.

"I won't allow it!" Yzak yells passionately. This manoeuvre does not go unnoticed by the Archangel Crew as the radar shows the Duel break off from its comrades and charge straight towards the weakened Strike. Dalida relays this information to his crewmates who become tense at the news. Luckily, at that moment, the Strike flies in front of the Archangel and aligns itself with the Battleship, informed of this news, Jackie turns to Natarle.

"The Strike has locked onto the route!" He reports.

"Catapult release!" Natarle commands.

"I hope you get this, Kira!" Cagalli mutters.

The Catapult signs reads "Clear" across the board, allowing the Launcher Strike Pack and its Hyper Impulse Cannon zoom out of the Bay and veer straight for the Strike. Kira's sensors inform him of this.

"It's here!" He exclaims with a breath of relief. He then proceeds to detach the Aile Pack and its shield and then moves to properly align himself with the incoming package.

Unfortunately, the Strike is now in the Duel's sight who raises its Beam Rifle and aims it at the now defenceless Mobile Suit. A smug smirk is on Yzak's face as the Targeting System comes forward across his eyes to assist him in aiming to which he slightly grins. The Targeting Computer's reticule quickly locks onto the Strike.

"It's locked onto me?!" Kira remarks as the Wear Parts are just about to attach themselves. The Duel, unfortunately, fires its attached Grenade Launcher at the Strike and the Missile veers towards him.

"Kira!" Tolle cries in distress at the sight of it as the rest of the bridge crew just gasp save for Murrue who simply growls a little. The Impulse Cannon attaches itself to Kira just as the Missile makes contact, causing a large explosion to occur. The Archangel's Bridge Crew look at the explosion with a worried expression as well as Athrun and Mu who cease their fighting to watch the explosion. The Duel also stops in place as Yzak watches the explosion expectantly.

"Did I get him?" He cannot help but wonder with a hopeful tone. Unfortunately, he gets his answer as an intense red beam bursts through the cloud directly towards him, "What?!" He cries out in confusion as he evades to the right at the very last second, preventing his untimely demise. However, he does not come out unscathed as the Beam engulfs his Mobile Suit's entire right arm that was carrying its Beam Rifle.

The Strike charges through the cloud, Impulse Cannon at the ready as Kira lets out a loud battle cry and repeatedly fires the weapon at the disarmed Duel who evades to the right to avoid the first shot, but the second scratches his shield, causing him to growl in frustration. He boosts away as the Buster and GINN move forward to provide cover fire for their handicapped comrade, but are prevented as a Linear Gun strikes the Buster from behind, causing the GINN to move out of the line of fire of the now present Moebius Zero.

"Retreat! Yzak! Dearka! Miguel!" Athrun calls out to his exposed allies, "we can't pursue them any further!"

"What!" Yzak shouts in annoyance.

"Athrun's right!" Nicol joins in, "If we continue, this time, we'll be the ones running out of power!"

"We'll get them another day, Yzak." Miguel assures his friend as Yzak grinds he teeth in frustration, growling in anger as he does so. He punches his cockpit's view-screen in anger. The Duel is held onto by the Buster as they both fly away from the ever continuous bursts of red energy being projected at them. The GINN flies in front of them and flies backwards as it continues to fire on the Strike with its Heavy Machine Gun, providing cover for his retreating allies.

The Moebius Zero flies next to the Strike as it continues to rain fire upon its enemies. The Bridge Crew can watch in amazement as they realise that they just won that battle. Murrue stands in her chair tensely before Jackie informs her of the Mobile Suit's retreat, to which she falls back into it and breathes a sigh of relief.

* * *

**Some time later… The Gamow…**

The Blitz is just coming in for a landing as it enters the olive BattleShip through its lower launch hatch, its four allies having already docked in the ship. The Black Mobile Suit flies backwards slowly and plants its feet slowly on the surface of the Gamow's Launch Bay.

Meanwhile, things are not going well in the Gamow's Locker Room as Yzak grabs Athrun by the collar of his Normal Suit and rams him against the Lockers.

"Bastard!" Yzak insults him, "Are you outta your mind?! If only you hadn't acted out of line there!" His grip is quickly detached as Miguel gets in the way and pushes them both apart, attempting to defuse the situation.

"Lay off, Yzak!" Miguel scolds him.

"The hell, Miguel?!" Yzak exclaims, "you saying you agree with what this idiot did out there?!"

"Hell no!" Miguel clarifies, "What Athrun did was stupid and cost us a chance at getting rid of the Strike and its pilot! Of course I'm pissed!"

"Then why are you telling me to lay off?!" Yzak fights back hotly, trying his luck and get past Miguel.

"Because I get where he was coming from!" Miguel responds, "If we had the Strike on our side, the Alliance would have no chance!" Yzak hesitates for a few seconds as he seems to calm down a little.

"I guess…" He trails before adopting an angry face again, pushing back towards Athrun as Miguel tries to keep him back, "but it still was a stupid thing he did!"

"It was quite a blunder," Dearka chips in, "all because you ignored orders."

At that moment, the doors open and Nicol steps in. He sees the tense atmosphere and Yzak's wrestling with Miguel and quickly drifts into the room.

"What are you doing?!" Nicol cries out, "This isn't the place! Stop it!"

"We went out with FIVE machines!" Yzak exclaims, "Yet we failed to nail it!" He tries to fight past against Miguel again, "This is humiliating!"

"But taking it out Athrun won't change anything, will it?" Nicol tries to reason with his comrades. Yzak looks back towards him with an angry expression as Nicol's stern one doesn't change. He hovers there for a few moments before moving away from Miguel and flies towards the door to leave, Dearka in tow, leaving Miguel, Athrun and Nicol alone.

"Athrun…" Nicol starts to address his team-mate, "I also feel that this isn't like you, but…"

"Can you please just leave me alone, Nicol? Miguel?" Athrun pleads with them as a solemn expression is clear on his face. He leaves the room and punches the wall outside in frustration at all that has occurred.

"Kira…" He mutters.

Meanwhile, Miguel hovers in the Locker Room with a thoughtful expression as something crosses across his mind.

"Athrun, I gave you a chance…" He memorises, "You failed and you won't get another."

* * *

**Archangel…**

The Strike sits in its berth, unmoving as a large team of engineers hover around the Mobile Suit including Cagalli. Kira has not come out of the cockpit yet, so they are unsure what to do. Luckily, Mu arrives on the scene and drifts on over to the Machine.

"Hey!" He calls out to the Strike's occupant, "Come on, Kid!"

"Come on out, Kira!" Cagalli pleads with the cockpit hatch as she bangs on it, confusing Mu at the goings on, "don't make me come in there and kick your ass!"

"What's going on?" Mu asks Murdoch.

"Well, the kid refuses to come out." Murdoch explains.

"What?" Mu asks with a confused tone, he drifts to the left side of the Strike and uses the Mobile Suit's exterior hatch release to open the machine "Hey, what are you doing in there? Come on out!" He asks as he drifts back to the front of the machine to get a look inside, Cagalli peeking over his shoulder, "Kira Yamato!"

Unfortunately, they are greeted to a depressing sight as Kira sits there, breathing heavily with a look of distress clear on his face. The boy is clearly distressed from the latest ordeal. Mu moves into the cockpit and gives him reassuring smile.

"It's over." He assures the boy, "Come on, now!" Mu puts his hands over Kira's left that still clutches one of the control levers and attempts to remove it, "Hurry up and get out of here! Neither of us got killed and the ship's okay."

Kira still looks down at his hands with a distressed expression.

"You did well."

The statement snaps Kira out of his trance as looks at Mu with a surprised expression. Cagalli tries to help by giving him a nod. Luckily, this works as he starts to breathe normally and his hands stop shaking.

Elsewhere, a hysterical Flay has just found her Love Interest, Sai, and wrapped her arms around him, all the while, she cries.

"Sai, you idiot!" She cries, "Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!" She repeatedly cries out, drawing the attention of the surrounding civilians. She lifts her head up to address him, "I was scared, I was really scared! The ship shook a lot, and I was alone!" She starts to cry again and presses her face against his chest, Sai unsure of what to do in the situation.

Meanwhile, on the bridge, Romero had just received a message on his console that he believed was worth relaying to the Archangel crew.

"Message from Artemis!" He reports, "Request to enter port acknowledged, an inspecting officer is being sent!"

"I understand!" Murrue confirms, "Thank you." She breathes a sigh of relief as it seems like they have managed to make it to safety.

* * *

**Vessalius…**

The Communication's Officer has just received a rather important message as well as an extra other. He transfers the data to paper and approaches the White Coat onboard and hands him the letters.

"To Commander Le Creuset!" He informs them, "from the homeland!"

Rau reads the two letters speedily without saying anything. He stands there for a few moments before slightly chuckling and handing Ades one of the two letters who hastily reads it while hovering in front of him.

"A summons from the Supreme Council?" He asks before grabbing the letter and examining it more closely, "You're kidding?! After cornering them this far!"

"I'd imagine the collapse of Heliopolis has made things has made things quite hectic for the council," he theorises, "Well, it can't be helped." He casually says, "We'll leave the Gamow here to continue pursuing it."

"Right." Ades responds.

"Have Athrun and Miguel return!" He commands to which Ades raises a curious eyebrow.

"Why Miguel?" He asks with a confused tone, "I'm pretty sure he's eager to stay and fight." Rau chuckles a little at this before casually dangling the other letter in front of him.

"It seems Miguel's Personal GINN has been fully repaired." Rau informs him, "The Quartermaster has asked that he come collect it when he can from Armoury One."

"I suppose Miguel would be eager to get that thing back." Ades says.

"Indeed he would," Rau agrees, "The Vessalius will return to the Homeland as soon as repairs are complete!"

* * *

**Archangel…**

While the shuttle carrying the "Inspection Officer" lands, Kira passes through one of doors into a large corridor only to walk into a smirking Mu who has his arms crossed, surprising Kira as the Natural puts his arm around his shoulders.

"I forgot to tell you earlier…" Mu starts to say.

"Yes?" Kira asks.

"Put a lock on the Strike's activation program." He tells Kira, "Make sure that no one can move it but you!" He warns him, confusing the Coordinator.

At that moment, the door to the bridge opens as the short, large Earth Forces "Inspection" Officer steps through, followed by another officer. Natarle and Murrue salute the man who responds in kind along with his subordinate.

"Thank you, sir!" Murrue addresses her superior, dropping her salute along with Natarle, "We're grateful that you granted our request to enter port."

The Archangel then performs a 360 and puts its back towards Artemis. The Large Battleship starts to move backwards towards the structure as random debris is vaporised on the large bubble shield that surrounds Artemis. The Archangel utilises the Signal Lights that hover in space to properly manoeuvre into the Space Station, the shield deactivating to allow them entry.

As this occurs, Flay watches with Sai at the rear viewing platform as they back into the fortress.

"Wow." She says with an awed tone.

"It's called a Light Wave Defensive Belt." Sai explains, "also known as the Umbrella of Artemis." He informs her, "They say it's the ultimate defence weapon. It won't even allow a Laser Beam to pass through."

"I'm so glad." Flay remarks, "We're safe now, right?"

"Yeah." He agrees her as a smile comes to Flay's face.

Eventually, the Archangel reverses into the interior and makes a full stop as the Docking Clamps attach themselves to the exterior of the Archangel. This would normally signify safety for the crew of the Archangel, but this is no such case as there are several Moebius Mobile Armours equipped with Linear Guns that are aimed at them. There are also transports carrying armed soldiers wearing Normal Suits as well as random soldiers hovering around the Archangel with their guns fixed on the Battleship.

"Captain!" Natarle addresses Murrue.

"What's going on?" Tolle exclaims with a confused tone.

"Commander!" Murrue addresses her superior with an angered tone.

"I advise that you keep quiet, Captain." He retorts as Murrue can only look at him with confusion.

* * *

_**And so ends Chapter 5. Unfortunately, it may be more than a week before you see the next chapter as I may decide to go ahead and update the next chapter of my Super Robot Wars fic. I don't know if I will yet.**_

_**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.**_

_**R-0 Out!**_


	6. Chapter 6: Artemis

_**Hello everyone, R-0 here and welcoming you to the next chapter of my Fanfic.**_

_**But first: Review and Answer time! As always, those who I communicate with privately will not be answered here for obvious reasons.**_

_**Hekate's Tragic Theme: Thank you for taking an interest in my fanfic. Personally, I don't think my descriptive skills are that impressive as I am just describing the scenes that took place in canon which isn't that difficult. Hopefully, I will be able to start branching out and get more original with the battles.**_

_**edboy4926: Okay… that's a completely random question, but alright!**_

_**Zombyra: Okay… Are you trolling or was that an accident?**_

_**I have not fully watched G-Gundam as of yet as it is something I watch on the side when I don't have anything else to do. It is pretty fun despite being very corny at point. I suppose that's its charm. The mech designs are stupidly gimmicky, but, again, it's the charm of the series so I can let it go. Domon is definitely one of the more likeable Gundam characters just for not being a lame archetype and being extremely hot-blooded.**_

_**Fireminer: Oh, that's easy. It would have to be a tie between the Zudah and Kampfer easy. Both are limited production mechs that, in the right hands, give Gundam-types a serious run for their money. On another note, I like the various upgraded versions of the Zaku Series such as the Zaku Kai, Zaku F2, Zaku Cannon, Act Zaku etc… I also took a particular liking to the Zeon MS that make an appearance in The 08th Mobile Suit Team like the Gouf Custom as well as that team of beaten up Zakus that come across the Guerrilla Village.**_

_**Where did I ever say I dislike Super Robots? I LOVE Super Robots! Some of my favourites are SRX (and Banpreious), Black Getter, Mazinkaiser (and SKL), Dai-Guard, Dygenguard, Cybuster, Valsion, Valsione, Shin (and New) Getter Robo and the list goes on! I prefer Real Types, yes, but I, in no way, dislike Super Robots. The only ones I dislike are ones that are really gimmicky. What I dislike are ones that stupidly blur the line for no legitimately good reason like the Strike Freedom. Some can get away with it like the Arbalest and some can't like the Strike Freedom.**_

_**Don't worry, I fully intend to go back to my Super Robot Wars Fanfic. I just want to reach a respectable point here and then go back it. Then it will probably turn into an on/off sort of thing with the order of which I update them.**_

_**thedarkpokemaster: As I have stated before, I will TRY to do something with Flay's character, I can't just magically make her a nice character for the hell of it. Her becoming a manipulative slut is what is unique to her character. It wouldn't feel right to take that away when that is something that defines her as unique. Besides, if she doesn't, how else is that Nuclear Fallout supposed to start? It's important that she turns out that way for the sake of the plot.**_

_**I don't think Lacus is that sort of person. Converted Athrun to her way of thinking, yes. Took advantage of him? No. That's Flay's job.**_

_**Again, I have to disagree with you about the whole sympathy thing. Throughout SEED, Flay kept doing things which made people lose sympathy and sort of liking towards her while Lacus and Miriallia didn't. Flay started spouting racist ideals to blame Kira in front of countless ORB residents who live with these "freaks of nature" every day. Of course they're going to lose sympathy for her. Lacus never did such a thing and is the antithesis of this (God, I am disgusting myself with defending that Mary Sue) and so characters didn't feel the need to distance themselves from her or say "she doesn't deserve my sympathy." To the characters, she never did anything to turn them against her (which is one of her biggest issues as a character) hence why they were there for her during her time of loss. Again, I am still talking about the characters and not us, the viewers. Miriallia is an understandable case as she was still grieving over the loss of her lover. It's nothing to do with Dearka being a Coordinator that caused her to try and knife him (which is why Flay tried to shoot him). He could have been a Natural and it would have not made a difference. It's because he was part of the Army who killed Tolle and was talking shit to her (while her heart was in a million pieces) which led Miriallia to do what she did. And she snapped out of her grief and protected him from Flay and her Racist close-mindedness which negated the loss of sympathy for Miriallia. There are ways that tragedy can be handled to garner more or less sympathy for the character by the other characters in the series itself. Flay's close-minded racist ideals are an example of less and Miriallia's grievance towards Tolle's death but accepting that it was a casualty of war are an example of more.**_

_**Seriously, you may like Flay, but I don't… AT ALL! If you keep talking to me about her, I will keep raging about her as I have a lot to say about her… None of which is pleasant…**_

_**Don 77: Incorrect. Cagalli's character was butchered to make Lacus look better in comparison, yes, but Flay's was not. The direction her character took was intended to go the direction it did from the very beginning and trying to draw some sort of parallel between Lacus and Flay isn't worth it as I consider them to be two different entities. Flay becoming what she did was a key plot-point and added some charm to the series that defines it from the other Gundam series. I am not close-minded regarding Flay, but I can easily see that what happened with her character was something that was fully intended to happen from Episode 1 and trying to say that she, like Cagalli, is a victim of Morosawa wanting to make her Mary Sue look better in comparison is, sad to say, completely incorrect. If anything, Flay was one of the few characters whose arc went EXACTLY the way it was supposed to without influenced bias from Morosawa.**_

_**Kevinrock8899: Again, keep your expectations low. I can't promise anything. What happened to Flay was what made her character unique and interesting. I feel like I'd be doing a disservice if I took it away from her.**_

_**Again, I have to disagree. Flay knew full well what she was doing throughout and planned out everything she did. Her being oblivious was the point of her father's death. It was an eye opener for her. Unfortunately, it opened her eyes and affected her in the worst way it can affect a human being. Flay, from the beginning, had a very cruel and manipulative mindset that she made full use of throughout the series with her Father's death simply aggravating it. As I have already stated, I dislike Flay. While it is true I hate Lacus more, that's like saying "I hate this piece of Dog Turd more than this piece."**_

_**Not going to go into depth about real world issues as you can't really use that as a parallel to fiction.**_

_**Narusaku fan 100: Please refer to the above reply for a similar answer. Basically, Flay wasn't screwed over plot-wise. Everything that happened with her was logical and clearly supposed to happen the way it did and not a result of favouritism towards Lacus.**_

_**Again, I appreciate the suggestion, but, after properly studying the Fanfic, I can safely say it is not my cup of tea. I, very much, disapprove of OC Insertion and especially when they are the solution to a great deal of the story. OCs should have a minimal role in a canon retelling like my OC Mickal who was simply a named soldier. Obviously, they can have a greater level of significance to the plot such as Lord Of The Land Of Fire's OC Sekitan Ria, however they should never be game-changing and heavily influence canon. I apologise if my views have upset you, but these are my opinions on OC-Centric fanfics. Yes, Kira may be the protagonist, but this OC will be a protagonist himself, correct? Then I cannot like that sort of Fanfiction. Sorry.**_

_**worldwanderer2.0: Well, it's good to see that you weren't insulted by my little rant.**_

_**The fact that I referred to the "Agni" as an Impulse Cannon was intentional. It's just an abbreviation as I don't think people are going to want to read Hyper Impulse Beam Cannon over and over again so I just shortened it to Impulse Cannon which sounds much more badass than just Beam Cannon. Maybe I will refer to it as the "Agni" sometimes in the future or just call it Cannon. If such occurrences happen, just make the assumption that they are intentional abbreviations.**_

_**As I said, I know next to nothing about Hyperions so implementing them would be completely half-assed and make no sense to the canon of SEED. As you said, I'm being VERY anal about sticking to the original canon as much as humanly possible. I don't like the idea of the Archangel crew conveniently acquiring another high powered Mobile Suit to aid them. I like the idea of them scrounging what little they got to survive.**_

_**Don't worry, Cagalli will be very helpful here and Flay will get told straight. She isn't gonna be able to just run her mouth off for every little racist comment she makes. When you say that sort of shit in front of the Princess of a Sovereignty whose sole goal is to have these two races co-exist peacefully, you're basically begging for a bitch slap of the highest order.**_

_**Ok… Well, I see your heavily armed Nu Gundam variant and I raise you the Hi-Nu. Hi-Nu owns all…that is all… I win!**_

_**I will quickly stress the fact that talking to me about Flay like she's a victim is not a good idea as I very much despise her for a reason completely differing from Lacus'. I respect those who like her and will not judge them much like how I hope people will not judge me for being a fan of crack pairings (I seemed to have found some guilty pleasures in KouXCima, AsemuXArisa, KamilleXEmma and there are quite a few crackish pairings that I very much adore).**_

_**Anyway, let's begin chapter 6!**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED or its respective materials.**_

* * *

Chapter 6: Artemis

As the numerous Eurasian soldiers wearing Normal Suits and armed with Assault Rifles encircl the docked Battleship, a significant number of other soldiers enter the Archangel through its airlocks. As this occurs, the numerous refugees (including Flay), volunteer soldiers (such as Sai) and the normal Alliance Soldiers all observe the monitor located on the Mess Hall wall, many of them all gasp with a mixture of confusion and fear clearly affecting their mentality as they can't understand why they are being boarded by their "allies."

"What is this?" Flay asks, with confusion in her tone, her love interest, Sai, who is equally confused at this development, "What's going on, Sai?"

At that moment, Kira enters the Mess Hall to join his cohorts only to notice the view-screen filled with Eurasian Soldiers with their rifles trained on the Battleship and gasps in confusion, his face showing clear and visual confusion. Unfortunately, he does not get to voice these thoughts as the Mess Hall doors open again and a voice interrupts him.

"Okay, freeze!" The voice calls out, causing all of the people occupying the room to turn towards the source of the sound to see five Eurasian Soldiers lining up in front of the door, their rifles trained on the gathered civilians and soldiers, "Don't move!" He commands, causing the gathered people to gasp in terror at their current predicament.

A similar incident is occurring on the Bridge of the Battleship as a squad of Normal Suit-clad soldiers enter the Bridge, guns at the ready. Miriallia lets out a squeal of terror as the soldiers enter the bridge with their guns drawn, causing her to raise her hands into the air. Her terror is increased as a blonde and short-haired Soldier drifts in front of her and aims his gun directly at her face.

"Don't move!" He commands, causing the distressed girl to lower her arms and instead curl them into a ball and hold them against her chest, signifying her growing fear.

"What are you doing?!" Murrue tries to protest against these soldiers only to have two other armed soldiers land in front of her and train their guns on her and Natarle.

These incidents were also occurring in other sections of the ship. A noticeable example is the Hanger Bay as a large group of soldiers have corralled the Maintenance Staff (including Cagalli, despite a heated resistance from her that forced the soldiers to let off a warning shot to deter her resistance) into a single spot and encircled them with guns.

"All of you are to gather in one place!" One of the soldiers calls out to the numerous mechanics littered in the Hangar as Mu, with his hands behind his head, is practically shoved into the coral by the soldier with gun trained on his back.

While this occurred, Natarle turned to addres the portly representative that led them into this trap.

"Commander Biddulph, I request that you give us an explanation of this!" Natarle address the now-named Biddulph with confusion very much clear in her tone, "We've…!"

"I'm just blockading the ship's controls and fire control systems as a security measure." Biddulph smoothly responds.

"Blockading?!" Natarle asks with an incredulous tone, "but you're…!" Natarle goes to protest, but a soldier moves a bit closer to her as if to stress the fact that he has a gun trained on her, causing the woman to pre-emptively cease her actions.

"Your ship is not registered so we don't have any identification code for it." He continues to explain the source of their predicament, "Given the circumstances, we did give you permission to enter port, but we have not recognised you as an ally yet."

"However-"

"This is a military facility." Biddulph stresses to Natarle, "I'd like you to at least understand that much."

The statement causes Natarle to stand down from her aggression as Murrue watched with an aggravated and annoyed expression at this recent development.

"Now, I'd like for the officers to come with me." Biddulph says in a manner that makes it blatantly obvious that that was not a request, "You shall explain the situation to us."

* * *

**Some time later…**

The three highest ranking officers (Murrue, Natarle, Mu) were all "escorted" to the Shuttle that had originally transported the representative (Biddulph) onto the Archangel. They all embarked the craft that would take them to meet the residing commander of Artemis: Gerard Garcia. Said Shuttle was already nearing said Commander.

As this was occurring, the captured Hangar and Bridge Crew were also being "escorted" to the Mess Hall to join the rest of the crew, despite protests from Murdoch and Cagalli.

"What is it with you guys?!" Murdoch exclaimed as he is roughly pushed into the Mess Hall, "You've gotta be kidding me!"

"Is this how you treat all your allies?!" Cagalli asks with a heated tone as she is also pushed into the Mess Hall. They gave up resisting and all willingly walked into the Mess Hall together despite some annoyed comments from the captured crew. Kira saw that Cagalli was being handled quite poorly and got up to greet her.

"Cagalli!" Kira addresses her with concern, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Cagalli responds with a reassuring tone, "These Artemis guys just need to work on their people skills, is all."

"That's good…" Kira mutters.

"We're fine too, kid." Murdoch interjects with a semi-amused smirk and playful tone as Kira became somewhat embarrassed, scratching the back of his head to signify this while Cagalli just scratches her chin with a finger to identify her own embarrassment. Their cheeks are also slightly coloured out of the public embarrassment they had just suffered.

As this rather awkward moment occurred, Gerard Garcia was observing the new Battleship that had just wandered into his Port with vested interest. He was looking at the Archangel through the numerous view screen located behind his desk in his office as his XO stood on the other side and observes the battleship also.

"A top-secret military project of the Atlantic Federation." Gerard begins to say, "Who would've thought that something like this would jump right into our laps?"

"So the rumours that Heliopolis is involved are true." His XO added. Gerard smirked a little as he shuts his eyes.

"We'll invite the crew to spend some time here." Gerard declares out loud for XO to hear. They are broken out of their little reverie when a knock from the door alerts them, causing Gerard to open his eyes and his XO to turn towards the door.

"Excuse me," Biddulph apologises from outside the door, "I have brought three officers from the unidentified ship with me."

"Come in." Gerard calls out to him. The door opens and Biddulph stands to the side of it as Mu, Natarle and Mu all enter the Office and walk to the centre before turning to address Gerard Garcia who gets out of his chair to address them.

"Welcome to Artemis."

* * *

**Archangel…**

There was much unrest within the Ship's Mess Hall as both the Civillians and Military Personnel could only sit there with both worry and confusion running through their veins.

"What? What's happening?"

"Aren't we gonna be let off here?"

"Why is there no explanation?"

These were the numerous of the refugees who were confused at their current situation and why they weren't allowed to depart the ship and why there were numerous soldiers with their guns trained on them.

"Eurasia is supposed to be an ally, right?" Sai asks his comrades with confusion, "Don't they get along with the Atlantic Federation?"

"That's not the problem." Jackie clarifies for him, causing Sai to give him a confused expression and sound.

"The problem is that we have no identification code." Romero explains with a sigh.

"Is it really that much of a problem?" Tolle asks with an incredulous tone.

"Apparently!" Dalida responds.

"Although I believe that the real problem lies elsewhere." Murdoch interjects.

"You're right." Arnold agrees.

"Yeah, it's not like we just wandered into a backwater station with the Alliance's Latest prototype battleship and a new Mobile Suit or anything like that." Cagalli remarks with a sarcastic tone, causing the people around her to widen their eyes in realisation.

"Now that you mention it…" Tolle agrees with her assessment, to which Kira merely sighs, knowing that this can only end horribly.

* * *

**Artemis Interior…**

"Lieutenant Murrue Ramius," Garcia begins to list out the names of the three officers in front of him as he looks through the database, "Lieutenant Mu La Flaga and Ensign Natarle Badgiruel."

"I see." He finishes, "It appears that your identifications are genuine Atlantic Federation IDs."

"We apologise for the trouble." Mu addresses his superior officer.

"Not at all." Garcia assures him, "In fact, I've come across your impressive record… Hawk of Endymion. I also fought at Grimaldi Front."

"Oh?" Mu asks knowingly with a smile, "Then you must have been in Commodore Villiard's unit."

"That's right." Garcia confirms, "Although we were forced to retreat in that situation, your heroics in downing five GINNs gave us some much needed encouragement."

"Thank you, sir." Mu responded.

"But who would've imagined that you would have appeared on THIS ship?" Garcia asks with an intrigued tone, his smile showing equal intrigue.

"Unfortunately, being on a special mission," Mu explains, "I am not at liberty to disclose details.

"I understand," Garcia reassures him, "But you musn't expect a resupply right away."

"It is crucial that we head to Lunar Headquarters as soon as possible." Murrue explains to the Commodore, "Moreover, we're being chased by ZAFT."

"ZAFT?" Garcia asks with an uncaring tone before activating the Camera controls which caused the images, which were images of plant-life, to the exterior of Artemis to reveal a Laurasia-Class outside of Artemis' perimeter, but still kept near to the Space Station. The image caused Murrue to gasp at the sight.

"The Laurasia-Class?" Natarle wonders out loud.

"As you can see, they've been wandering outside of the umbrella." Garcia explains, swivelling his chair around to address the image, "they've been here for a little while now."

"Well, one or two vessels won't be a worry us." Garcia assures them before turning his chair back around to address them properly, "However, this means that you won't be able to leave here even if you were resupplied, would you?"

"They're after us." Mu warns him, "We can't afford to risk damage to Artemis by staying here." Mu's response is simply a brief and loud laugh from the Base Leader.

"Damage to Artemis?" Garcia asks with a disbelieving tone, "They won't be able to do a thing and they'll eventually leave. It always happens."

"However, Commandant they're-" Mu attempts to protest and convince Garcia to let them go, however a dismissive hand reaches out towards him to silence the Mobile Armour pilot.

"In any case, I suggest you get some rest." Garcia recommends to his subordinates, "You look very tired so I will have rooms prepared for you." Garcia explains before activating the communicator on his desk.

"But, Commandant-" Once again, Mu is interrupted as the Office Door opens and a Eurasian soldier enters, causing Mu to turn around and look at him.

"Excuse me, sir!" The soldier addresses Garcia, saluting as he does so.

"We'll be able to get in touch with Lunar Headquarters once they leave." Garcia assures them before standing up to better address them, "we'll plan everything after that."

"Is Artemis really that safe?" Mu asks, turning back around.

"Yes." Garcia confirms with an assuring tone, "It's as safe as being in your Mother's arms."

* * *

**Archangel…**

Seeing as there really did not seem to be anything that they could do about their current predicament, the crew of the Archangel have all grabbed trays of food in order to quell their hunger.

"Is the situation going to continue on for long?" Dalida asks his comrade as he just acquired a tray of food from the Chef.

"Beats me!" Jackie responds, "We won't know a thing until the captain returns."

"We can't exactly cause a scene with our allies, either." Romero surmises.

"Some allies…" Cagalli mutters to herself.

"There seems to be a lot going on even within the Earth Forces." Sai comments.

Meanwhile, Kira plays with his food while a pensive expression is clear on his features. He thinks about his encounters with Athrun and the issue he faces now with his closest friend being on the opposite side. He sighs quietly to himself at his current predicament.

* * *

**Artemis Interior…**

Two Eurasian Guards are currently standing outside one of the various on-suite quarters available on the shielded Space Station. The residents of this room are Natarle Badgiruel, Murrue Ramius and Mu La Flaga, the latter two sitting down on the two couches across from each other while Natarle paces back and forth in annoyance at their predicament.

"Sure, the ship maybe unregistered," Natarle accepts with a degree of annoyance, "But the treatment we are getting is inappropriate!" She complains with an aggravated tone.

"It can't be helped." Mu responds, "Right now, they don't want us to return to the ship." He theorises, causing Natarle to let out a confused gasp, "What I'm concerned about is that those guys believe that they're completely safe on Artemis."

* * *

**Gamow…**

On the bridge of the Laurasia-Class the remaining three ZAFT Red Pilots (Yzak, Dearka, Nicol) are stood around the Information Terminal on the Gamow's bridge along with its Black Coat Captain: Zelman. The current data that was appearing on-screen was information regarding the Space Station that the enemy Battleship have just entered: Artemis. The current information showed how all form of matter that collided with the Shield simply disintegrates into nothing.

"The Umbrella doesn't allow any lasers of projectiles past it." Zelman informs the three pilots, gesturing to the screen as he does so, "Although the opposite is also true."

"In other words, they won't be attacking us." Dearka concludes, "It's kinda ridiculous when you think about it."

"But it's First-Class as a defensive weapon." Zelman clarifies for him, "Not being an important strategic position, our forces have pretty much ignored up to this point." Zelman explains, "We currently have no way to get past that Umbrella." He continues, "They've gone into a most troublesome spot."

"Then what'll we do?" Dearka asks with a joking tone, "Wait for them to come out?" He chuckles at his sarcastic joke causing an annoyed grunt from Zelman and Yzak.

"Stop kidding, Dearka!" Yzak scolds his fellow ZAFT Red, "When the Commander returns, do you want to report we did nothing?" The cocky look on Dearka's face is quickly wiped away as he looks at Yzak with a surprised expression before turning away with a look of annoyance, "It'd be a disgrace!"

It's at this point that Nicol decides to chirp up.

"The Umbrella's not open all the time, is it?" He asks Zelman.

"No." He confirms, "It's not normally activated unless there is an enemy presence in the area." He explains, "However, even if we did approach it with the Umbrella closed, they'd notice us once we got within its range and activate the umbrella." To assist, Dearka makes a shrugging motion.

"My machine…" Nicol starts to say, "The Blitz may be able to do it." This statement intrigues the other three at the console as they all turn towards him with a curious expression, "It has an interesting function besides its Phase Shift."

* * *

**Some time later…**

Once the meeting concluded, the Gamow ignited its manoeuvring thrusters and the Ship swung in a 180 Degree pattern. The Laurasia-Class ignited its engines and started to fly away from Artemis.

This action was noticed as Garcia, while in the Port Control Room, received an Intercom call and went to answer.

"What is it?"

"ZAFT's Laurasia-Class is leaving the area." The Officer called over the intercom, "Yellow 18, Mark 20, Charlie. Distance, 700. The distance is increasing."

"Very well," The Commandant responds, "I'll leave it to Rize. Continue to maintain surveillance over the area." As he gives the order, the Control Room doors slide open and his XO enters the room just as the communications officer signs off.

"Well?" He queries his XO.

"Sir." The Officer addresses Garcia, "Well, the examination of the ship is running along smoothly, but the Mobile Suit…"

"Which one?" Garcia asks with a sarcastic tone.

"The new one, sir." He replies.

"What's the matter?" Garcia inquires.

"There's a lock on the OS that's impossible to analyse." The XO explains, "We haven't been able to activate it yet."

"What?!" Garcia asks with a clear tone of annoyance.

"We have all of our technicians working on the lock as we speak." The XO tries to reassure Garcia which ultimately fails as he lets out an irritated "Tch."

* * *

**Gamow…**

As the ship slowly made it's way away from the Space Fortress, the Eurasian Forces thought that the threat to them was slowly leaving them peacefully. Unfortunately, this was not the case at all.

"Distance from Artemis: 3500." The Communications Officer informed Zelman, "Still no change in the Lightwave Defensive Belt."

Meanwhile, in the Gamow's hangar, a certain green-haired ZAFT Red was hard at work in his Mobile Suit in order to prepare for his latest sortie.

"Mirage Colloid voltage checked, systems all green." Nicol mutters to himself as he runs through the checks to utilise his Mobile Suit's special function. He takes a small breath, "We're putting this to use without any preliminary tests. I hope it works."

Meanwhile, in the Gamow's Locker Room, Dearka and Yzak were watching Nicol working on his Blitz with a degree of interest.

"The Earth Forces sure make some weird stuff." Yzak remarks to which Dearka turns away from the window to address him.

"Nicol would be perfect." Dearka remarks before turning back towards the Hangar with a smile, along with Yzak, "It's a job fit for a coward."

As soon as that comment was made, the clamps holding the Blitz to its berth came loose and Mobile Suit walked out in preparation to sortie.

* * *

**Artemis…**

A short Shuttle ride later and Garcia, along with his Officers, were onboard the Archangel and have just made their way to the Mess Hall. The guards inside the room all stood at attention eagerly as the Commandant entered the room.

"Who is the pilot and mechanic of the brand-new Mobile Suit on-board?" He calls out to the crowd of prisoners. This causes a collective gasp as a nervous look makes its way across Kira's face while Cagalli seems to be deep in thought.

"The pilot and mechanic!" His XO repeated, "He's one of you, right?" Kira goes to stand at this question, but a pair of hands on his shoulder, compliments of Murdoch, prevent the Coordinator from rising from his seat and instead sit back down. Meanwhile, Arnold marches towards the Commandant.

"Why are you asking us?" He enquires.

"What?!" The XO responds aggressively as he takes Arnold by the collar.

"Is it because our Captain and the Officers didn't tell you." Arnold asks knowingly, "Or because you couldn't ask them?" A look of realisation passes across Kira's face as he recalls when Mu told him to lock the Strike's OS. Suddenly, the reason why makes much more sense.

"I see." Garcia mutters before gesturing to his XO to release his grip on Arnold, which he does, "That's right. Among the Atlantic Federation, you people are elite personnel selected for a top-secret Military project."

"What are you planning to do with the Mobile Suits?" Arnold asks with concern.

"We'll probably turn the GINN into scrap metal; it can't be used by us, after all." Garcia informs him, "But we won't do anything to the Strike. We just want the opportunity to observe it before its grand announcement. So I will ask again, who is the pilot."

"It's Lieutenant La Flaga." Murdoch interjects, "If you have any questions about it, please ask the Lieutenant."

"We monitored the battle fought earlier." Garcia counters, "Even I know that he is the only person capable of handling the Zero and its GunBarrels." He then walks over to Miriallia and roughly pulls her to her feet by the arm, causing her to squeal and alerting Tolle who gets up out of his seat.

"Miriallia!" He exclaims. Once again, Kira tries to get out of his seat only to be prevented by Murdoch.

"It's unlikely that a woman would be able to pilot that thing." Garcia remarks as Miriallia struggles in his grasp, "But when you consider that even the captain of the ship is a woman…" He pulls on Miriallia roughly which causes her to let out a cry of pain.

"Stop it! That's unfair!" Kira shouts as he gets out of his chair to address the Commandant.

"Kid!" Murdoch protests and tries to make Kira sit back down before it's too late only to have Kira shrug him off.

"I'm the pilot of that thing!"

* * *

**Artemis exterior…**

The Operators of the Shield System have ultimately concluded that there is no more threat to their well-being, meaning that alert status was dropped from Level One to Level Two. This means that the Reflectors generating the many panels that form the Bubble Shield have all deactivated, collapsing the protective barrier around of Artemis, its inhabitants believing that there is no threat to them…

At that moment, the Gamow's launch catapult opens and the Blitz is waiting to launch with its Power Cable attached and Phase Shift already active. The Launch Sign goes green and the Mobile Suit zooms out of the Hangar, detaching its cable as it goes.

The Black Mobile Suit moves at a fairly slow pace, doing nothing more than using momentum to carry it towards the Space Fortress. Nicol then activates his Mobile Suit's special feature and particles start to radiate from the Mobile Suit, coating the surface in it and ultimately making the Mobile Suit, in layman's terms, go invisible (It's simply a cloak).

"Mirage Colloid formation: satisfactory. Current disposition rate: 37%" Nicol mutters to himself as he reads over the readings that this new feature is giving off before looking back towards the view-screen, "Use time: 80 Minutes." He says with finality as his Mobile Suit continues its course towards the defenceless Fortress.

* * *

**Artemis…**

Kira's recent declaration has caused Garcia to, luckily, relinquish his hold on the girl and instead advances on the young Coordinator (which the Commandant is unaware of).

"Look kid, I appreciate you trying to protect the girl," Garcia compliments the boy, "But that's not something like you can handle now, is it?" He faces goes from cocky to downright offended as he raises his fist to strike the boy. Unfortunately, a fist collides with the right side of his face and he goes careening into the windowed wall. All eyes turn to see that Cagalli is stood on the table with her fist positioned where Garcia's face used to be.

"What the hell are you trying to do?!" Cagalli exclaims, "Attack a kid because you felt like it?!"

"Commander!" Garcia's XO cries, running through the crowd with an entourage of Eurasian Soldiers.

"What's the matter with you people?!" Kira exclaims with an equally heated tone.

"Kira, stop it!" Murdoch scolds him, putting a pair of hands on his shoulers to try and keep him back "Don't fight back!"

"You as well, Cagalli!" Jackie remarks as he and Dalida try and pull her off the table with her resisting heavily.

"Bastard!" Garcia's XO yells as he moves on Kira, attempting to punch him, only to be stopped by Sai.

"Stop it!" The bespectacled boy tried to deter the Eurasia Officer only to receive a backhand that caused him to go careening into the arms of his Love Interest as well as his glasses falling off, causing Flay to squeal in terror at her Love Interest's poor treatment.

"Sai!" She cries out in terror, "Would you stop it?! What Kira is saying is true!" She confirms as the XO holds Kira by the collar, fist at the ready (Cagalli still trying to break out of Dalida and Jackie's grip), "That boy is the pilot!"

"Flay!" Tolle scolds her.

"Would you guys cut it out?!" The XO responds heatedly, still finding the idea impossible to believe.

"I'm not lying!" Flay fights back, "That boy is a Coordinator!"

That statement causing the Eurasian Officer to cease his hostility and look back at the boy with Murdoch face-palming at the issues that this will cause. Meanwhile, Cagalli looks at the girl with annoyance and anger, seeing the distaste in her eyes when she made that statement, the blonde girl knowing all too well what they expressions means.

"I'll have to watch her in the future!" She thinks to herself.

"A Coordinator?" Garcia asks with curiosity. Kira turns towards the Commandant and simply nods his head. "In that case, you will need to come with us." As he says this, the armed Eurasian guards train their guns on him. Kira is silent and unmoving for a moment before he starts to willingly walk towards the door.

Garcia and his entourage join the boy at the exit and prepare to leave. That is until…

"Wait a second!"

All eyes to the direction of the voice to see an annoyed Cagalli stood there.

"What is it, little girl?" Garcia asks with boredom.

"You need Kira to unlock the Strike, right?" Cagalli asks to which Garcia nods.

"Among other things…" Garcia says vaguely.

"Well, you're going to be waiting a while!" She remarks, confusing the Commandant as well as everyone else in the Quarters.

"What do you mean?" Garcia asks, suddenly much more interested in what the girl has to say.

"Did you really think that Kira would be stupid enough to make it so that only HE can unlock it _completely_?" Cagalli asks, seemingly stressing completely.

"Are you saying it requires more than one person?" Cagalli nods, "Who?"

"Who do you think?!" She responds heatedly, the implications clear who she means. This statement confuses the Archangel crew as they know that her programming skills are terrible. What she was saying was an outright lie. Flay also knows this (based on conversations she has overheard) and goes to speak out when Sai puts his hand over her mouth, shaking his head at her.

"Do you mean to tell me that YOU also helped lock the Strike's OS?" Garcia clarifies.

"That's right." Cagalli confirms, "We figured that if we both programmed two locks without letting each other see it, it would make it harder for just one of us to crack it this sort of crap ever happened."

"Are you a Coordinator?"

"Do you have to be to know your way around a computer?"

"I suppose not." Garcia remarks before turning back towards Kira, "Is this true?"

Kira stands there with an expressionless face for a few seconds as if trying to figure something out. He tries to understand why she's doing this, what's the point? Eventually, he gives up trying to figure out her intentions and curtly nods.

"Yes, it is." He confirms.

"In that case," Garcia points towards her, "You're coming with us!" He demands, to which she smirks and walks towards them.

"Gladly."

She joins the group and is pushed out of the room. Garcia and his XO have a firm grip on Kira while the two accompanying soldiers have their guns trained on Cagalli's back. As they leave, Tolle confronts Flay.

"Why'd you have to tell them that?" Tolle interrogates her with an annoyed tone.

"Because it's the truth!" She responds heatedly as she holds a wet cloth up to Sai's cheek where he was back-handed.

"Didn't you think about what would happen to Kira?!" Tolle asks with an aggressive tone.

"Stop talking down to me like that!" Flay responds heatedly, "Kira's on our side and this is an Allied Base, right? Then there's no problem!"

"Who do you think the Earth Forces are fighting against?!"

* * *

**Hangar…**

Eventually, the entourage reach the Hangar. Kira and Cagalli walk to the left side of the Strike while Garcia and his party stay on the left side.

"So you want us to release the lock on the OS, am I right?" The Coordinator queries.

Meanwhile, several Civilian workers look at the two with disbelief.

"What, are you sure?"

"Those children?"

"For starters." Garcia confirms, "But you, boy, are capable of doing many more things, am I right?"

"What do you mean?" Kira asks with worry, turning to directly face the group.

"For example," Garcia begins as he turns to look towards the Strike, "You can analyse the structure of this and build another or make a weapon that's effective against this type of Mobile Suits." Cagalli grits her teeth at this.

"So you basically want him to be a war factory?!" She asks with anger. Garcia laughs a little.

"Such a crude term," He remarks, "I prefer to say a provider of useful assets. We are fighting a losing war, you know."

"I'm just a Civilian Student!" Kira protests, "I'm not a soldier, nor a Military Contractor. There's no reason why I should have to do such things."

"But you're a traitor to Coordinators." Garcia smoothly counters, stunning Kira and angering Cagalli further.

"Traitor…?" He mutters as flashes of his memories of Athrun spring themselves to the front of his mind.

"I have no idea why you did do it, but the fact is that you did betray your own people, didn't you?" Garcia surmises, "In that case…"

"That's bullshit!" Cagalli heatedly responds, snapping Kira out of his distressed gaze, "Coordinators are people the same as us! Are you saying that if Coordinators and Naturals were all the same, then a person would be a traitor to all people because he fights?!"

"But Coordinators and Naturals ARE different." Garcia counters.

"THEY'RE NOT!" Cagalli responds with clear anger, "What gives you the right to judge Coordinators based on how they were born and call them different because of it?! Kira was never part of ZAFT nor your Alliance, so how the hell is he betraying a side he was never on?! Not ALL Coordinators are ZAFT, you know!" Her heated defense of him causes Kira to feel glad that she came with him.

"It doesn't change the fact that there are almost no, if any, Coordinators that are part of the Earth Forces making the boy VERY valuable." Garcia reasons, "There's nothing to worry about being treated unfairly, even in Eurasia."

* * *

**Some time later…**

Soon enough, Cagalli and Kira were "escorted" to the Strike's gantry and Kira quickly sat in the pilot's seat to get to work while Cagalli made herself comfortable next to him on the right holding the roll-cage for support, waiting for when she would have to do it herself.

"Oh Cagalli." Kira addresses his friend, "I think there might be a bug that's getting in the way, think you can fix it?"

Cagalli looks at him confusedly before he gestures to a message on-screen. It reads:

WHY DID YOU LIE AND COME WITH ME?

A light bulb switches on her head as he grabs the Keyboard and slowly types up a reply message to stall for even more time, pretending to look through the software as she does it so as to not arouse suspicion.

"Idiot, you could have done it yourself!" She remarks as she quickly hands the keyboard back and Kira looks over her response.

THOUGHT THAT YOU COULD USE A FRIEND WHEN BEING SURROUNDED BY ALL THESE GUYS WHO SEE YOU AS A WEAPON…

AND…

I KNEW THOSE ALLIANCE ASSHOLES WERE GOING TO SAY SOME SHIT LIKE THAT TO YOU… ABOUT YOU BEING SOME SORT OF BLACK SHEEP… IT WOULD HAVE BEEN HARD FOR YOU ALONE… I CARE, ALRIGHT?

Kira looks back to her from the console to see Cagalli looking away from him with an embarrassed look and slightly flushed cheeks while Kira smiles a little before mouthing a "thank you" towards her and setting back to work, going as slow as he can in the hope that something will help better their luck than the guard with his Rifle trained on them.

Luckily, something does occur that makes the situation seems a lot less bleaker. Unfortunately, this is a cloaked Blitz that has made its way past the shield and has begun to open fire on the surface of the Station, its green beams impacting against the side. The tremors can be felt throughout the station as well as The Archangel as Garcia and his XO are snapped out of their casual conversation. The vibrations can be felt by Kira's friends, the Archangel Officers and Kira and Cagalli themselves.

"Control Room!" Garcia, using a radio, addresses, "What were those tremors?"

"Unknown, sir!" A reply comes, "there is nothing within the perimeter!"

"An attack?" Kira wonders out loud as another harsh tremor occurs.

"What is it?" Tolle asks from the Mess Hall, "Are we under attack?"

"It could be a Long-Range Attack!" The Control Room Officers theorises, "Open the Umbrella, Rize! What are you doing?!"

Upon this order, the Reflectors rise up from their berths, ready to project a Shield to prevent the oncoming attack. Unfortunately, Nicol sees this and decloaks.

"That's it!" He exclaims. He ignites the Beam Sabre within his Offensive Shield System and charges towards the Reflector, slicing the device in half with ease.

"T-there's a Mobile Suit within the perimeter!" The Communications Officer relays to Garcia, "Our Reflectors are being destroyed!"

"What?!" Garcia exclaims.

* * *

**Some time later…**

"Is that the port?" Nicol wonders as he destroys the final Reflector, deactivating his Beam Sabre and charging directly for the large bulkhead.

Meanwhile, there is a significant amount of unrest on the Archangel as these tremors become increasingly more violent. Arnold eventually gives up waiting and walks to address the guarding Eurasian Soldiers.

"Why's the alarm going off?!" He queries with a heated tone.

"Huh? Oh well…" The Soldier stammers.

"Don't you know?" Jackie asks incredulously.

"Then go ask!" Arnold demands, "This has got to be an attack no matter how you look at it!" He declares as he shoves past the Guards into the corridor. The Guards try to stop the man, but his comrades all rush and tackle the soldiers.

"You've gotta get your priorities right!" Dalida remarks.

Soon enough, the entourage reach the bridge as civilian engineers escape as well as the soldiers that were guarding the Archangel from outside. Arnold dives into the pilot seat while the others (Tolle, Kuzzey and Romero) all take their appropriate positions.

"We're gonna start it up!" Arnold declares.

"The Captain and the others aren't here!" Romero protests.

"At this rate, we're sitting ducks!" Arnold counters.

* * *

**Artemis Quarters…**

The three officers (Murrue, Mu and Natarle) can only stay locked in their room as the tremors continue. They all can easily guess what is causing them now based on past experiences. Mu makes this known with an irritated "Tch."

"They got past!" Mu remarks before holding his hands up to his mouth to form a funnel shape. "There's a crack in the wall from that last explosion! Air's leaking out!" Mu calls out to the entrance, confusing his comrades before he regards them with a quieter voice, "Shout out something! Make them open the door!"

A look of realisation crosses Murrue's face as she lets out a blood-curdling scream.

"Help, we're gonna die!" She cries out in false terror, "No!"

"Hurry and open up!"

"Help me! I'm suffocating!"

"Let me out!"

"Hurry!"

Their false cries are heard as one of the two Eurasian Guards opens the door and peers in as Mu hides to his left. Upon entry, Mu rushes the Soldier and smacks the back of his neck, incapacitating the Soldier.

"Lieutenant?" Natarle asks confusedly as the second soldier walks in.

"Hey, what's wrong?!" He asks before noticing Mu and being punched in the stomach, incapacitating the second soldier, also.

"We're in a hurry!" Mu remarks.

"I certainly don't want to die here in Artemis, Sorry!" Murrue remarks as Natarle sight and follows.

* * *

**Artemis Port…**

Several Moebius Mobile Armours, equipped with Linear Guns and Missiles and protecting the port area are quickly dispatched by the superior Blitz as it charges through their explosions and directly into the Port itself, all the while dodging Energy Blasts easily.

As the Mobile Suit blitzes (ironically) through Artemis' defences, the various Artemis staff are fleeing from the Archangel in the hopes of finding somewhere safe. Meanwhile, Garcia can only stand in front of the Strike with his XO in disbelief at this newest occurance.

"They got through the Umbrella?!" Garcia asks with an incredulous tone, "That's impossible!"

Kira and Cagalli takes this opportunity to both raise their legs at the distracted guard who has his back turned and kick him out of the hatch. The soldier as well as the civilian with him are flung away from the hatch as the two hovering next to it hastily move away as it closes and the Mobile Suit begins to move to which Garcia lets out an annoyed growl as it walks past him towards the Launch Catapult.

"We're under attack, right?" Kira reasons, "this isn't the time for this!"

"Dammit!" Garcia exclaimed as he and his XO quickly ran from the Mobile Suit Hangar as the Strike gets ready for Sword Strike weapon pack. The Battery pack is mounted on the back, the Anti-Ship Sword was mounted on the back of the Strike to the right and the shoulder pad carrying the Beam Boomerang and Rocket Anchor is mounted on the left arm as Kira deployed the Phase Shift.

"Sorry, Cagalli!" Kira addresses his friend, "I haven't got time to let you off!"

"It's fine!" She assures him, "Just get out there and stop whoever is attacking!"

At that moment, an unlucky Moebius was sliced in half by the Blitz as Nicol notices the Archangel.

"Found it!" He remarks as he ignites his boosters and charges towards the ship. The Strike launches from the ship and rises into view after being obscured by an Agamemnon-Class battleship. "I'll get that guy!" He remarks before firing his Rocket Anchor. The Strike counters by firing his own Rocket Anchor which causes the two wired weapons to clash with each other.

"Dammit!" Kira exclaims, "He's come all the way in here!" He remarks before brandishing his Anti-Ship Sword and charging after the Blitz who quickly retracts its Rocket Anchor to fly from the attacking Mobile Suit.

* * *

**Archangel…**

As the Duel and Buster launch from the Gamow to assist their comrade in this latest skirmish, the three officers (Natarle, Murrue and Mu) all manage to make it to the Archangel's bridge despite the ensuing chaos.

"Captain!" Romero cries with relief as they can finally make their escape as the woman takes her seat as well as Natarle.

"Excellent work, kids!" Mu compliments Sai and Miriallia as he rubs there head jokingly.

"What's this fortress anyway?" Sai asks in a complaining tone.

"We can't get around while we're in here!" Murrue realises, "Archangel, take off!"

As expected, the White Battleship's rear engines all roar into life as the Archangel rises from its berth, various pieces of debris collapsing around them. The Strike quickly retreats into the Archangel's range only for the Blitz to continue firing on it and shoot its Rocket Anchor. The Strike goes to slash the Blitz only for it to fly backwards and dodge the attack. As Kira recovers, the memories of all that Garcia said to him races across his mind, his anger increasing. Luckily, the memory of Cagalli defending him plays across his mind which slightly calms him.

"Just go away!" He cries out at the Black Mobile Suit, charging with his Anti-Ship Sword ready. The Blitz launches its three "Lancer Dart" Hypervelocity Kinetic Energy Penetrators at the Strike only for two to miss and the last being cut in half by the Strike. The Strike charges at the Blitz and slashes twice and almost hitting the Black Mobile Suit, causing Nicol to grunt in annoyance at the close call.

* * *

**Elsewhere…**

As this continues, the Duel and Buster have made their way to the already battered Space Station and have already proceeded to tear through the quickly dwindling Moebius and enter the station with ease. Things have become so desperate for them that they had to send the Moebius Mobile Armours that were guarding the Archangel to assist the remaining units. Meanwhile, Garcia watches in despair as his Station is torn apart.

"What are you doing?!" He heatedly asks the Control Room Officer, "Send our ships out! Artemis can't be destroyed by just one enemy!"

At that moment, the Buster rips through a Moebius with its Gun Launcher and Beam Rifle. Unfortunately, the Mobile Armour does not explode and instead goes careening towards the Control Room. Garcia and his entourage can only cry out in terror as the Mobile Armour punctures the Control Room's glass and the ensuing fire engulfs the room.

Dearka ceases his onslaught as Yzak rejoins with him.

"Where's the ship?" He asks.

"I don't know!" Yzak replies, "Nicol, Where are you?!" He wonders out loud as they both boost off in opposite directions in search of their comrade.

* * *

**Archangel…**

The Archangel finally manages to rise high enough into the air for them to escape. The ship utilises its manoeuvring thrusters to turn around and face the entrance.

"Recall the Strike!" Murrue orders, "We're escaping Artemis through the Harbour exit on the other side!"

"Kira, Cagalli! Come back!" Miriallia calls over the Communicator, alerting the Strike's occupants, "The Archangel's taking off!"

The Blitz appears in front of the Strike, but it is to no avail as Kira flies the Strike backwards and towards the Archangel, avoiding anymore conflict. This causes Nicol to gasp at the realisation.

"You're running away?!" He exclaims in frustration as he chases after the Strike only to be pushed back by the ensuing explosions and forced to retreat as the Strike manages to make it through the explosions and land on top of the Archangel.

"The Strike has returned!" Natarle informs her captain.

"Archangel, take off!" Murrue orders, "Maximum battle speed!"

The Battleship charges forward through the port as explosions continuously erupt around them. They fly straight of the entrance as a large explosion engulfs Artemis. The three X Numbers also make it out safely as they can only watch as the Archangel eludes them yet again, something which Nicol growls angrily at.

* * *

**Archangel, some time later…**

The Strike enters the Hangar bay and docks with its berth. As soon as this is complete, the Strike's hatch immediately opens and a rather cold-looking Kira emerges. Cagalli soon follows after out of the Hatch and starts to trail behind Kira, respecting his need for some distance. He drifts towards the exit, but is greeted to the sight of Mu and Murdoch, the former of which is waving at him.

"Kid!" Mu greets Kira. Unfortunately, Kira just ignored him and continued his journey towards the door, confusing Mu who let out a "Huh?" as a result. "What's the matter with him?" He asks Murdoch who simply shrugs. Cagalli also drifted past them and tailed after Kira, ensuring to keep some distance from the distressed Coordinator.

Eventually, he made it to his own Quarters and slid the door open. He slowly walked inside and sat on the edge of one of the beds and fell over to face the wall. His robotic pet Birdy landed on his shoulder and let out sorrowful "Birdy" at the young Coordinator, to which he slightly opened his eyes.

"I'm…" He mutters, clenching his fist as tears start to fall from his eyes.

"Kira…" A familiar voice calls out to him, it wasn't forceful or aggressive like it owner normally is, "You're not a traitor to anyone and you're not a tool to the people on this ship…"

"We care about you…"

"…**I **care about you…"

And with that said, the shutter doors were closed to leave Kira alone, who felt a strange peace fall over him with those words.

* * *

_**And that's the end of Chapter 6! Sorry for the delay, but I had to babysit my nephew last weekend and had Work Experience this week.**_

_**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I tried to put some KiraXCagalli moments in this one and I hope you enjoyed them.**_

_**R-0 Out!**_


	7. Chapter 7: A Glimpse Of Potential

_**Hello everyone, R-0 here and welcoming you to the next chapter of my Fanfic.**_

_**Before Rate and Review time, however, I want to point out a derp I made in Chapter 5 (Thank You ExArchMagus for informing me that it doesn't exist yet). Armoury One doesn't exist yet and I realise that now, I apologise for the derp and will refer to the supply base holding Miguel's GINN as something different from now on.**_

_**Anyway, NOW let's do Rate and Review time!**_

_**thedarkpokemaster: Happy to see that you enjoyed them. **_

_**Tomboys are fairly high on my list as being likeable and interesting love interests (looking at you Chie... God, I love Chie).That doesn't mean they are my favourites though.**_

_**mega1987: Again, I can't say that I will change up Flay's character. What she became was what made her character unique, realistic and interesting. It seems like I would just be making her OOC if I did that.**_

_**Lacus won't change under any circumstance as I have plans for her and what she was in SEED was acceptable and needed in the first series. It was Destiny where she should have pissed off as she made everything worse and it became transparently obvious that Morosawa was favouring her badly and, since she was going through cancer at the time, Fukuda wasn't going to tell her to re-write it when his dear wife is going through a tough time. As a result, they had less time to do the episodes than normal because of she was handing the drafts in late. This is obvious as there was a dip in animation within the final episodes. If I do a Destiny re-write based off this fanfiction (highly likely) then I know EXACTLY what's going to happen to her… (Evil Laugh).**_

_**edboy4926: Glad to see that you enjoyed it.**_

_**Zombyra: It's ok, no harm done.**_

_**I won't spoil whether or not the Perfect Strike will be in this iteration. You'll just have to wait and see. It's difficult to write the Remastered version as the Youtube videos for them have that stupid gimmick where you can't stop and start them or it will stop buffering and freeze up and, since I write the chapters as I watch the episode while changing what I want to change, it may become an issue when I get there and have to use the Youtube videos. If you actually know an anime site that has the Remastered Episodes posted in a format that ISN'T the Youtube format, I would appreciate it.**_

_**Fireminer: What do you mean when you say "Warship Gunfight?" Do you mean Ship-on-Ship Combat because I have said this does follow canon to a T so what ones are in canon will be here and the ones not in canon won't be here.**_

_**I think a Zudah could do it. In the right hands, it could pose a serious threat to the Gundam as we have seen inferior Mobile Suits (Zaku Commander Type, Gouf, Zaku Kai) go toe to toe with the Gundam in the hands of competent pilots (Ramba, Char, Norris, Bernie). Stick one of those guys in a Zudah and watch the ownage occur… So long as they don't fight for TOO long or we all know what will happen, don't we?**_

_**I'm one of those guys who believes that wielding two weapons of equal weight is much better than wielding one Heavy one and one Small one. By that logic, I would go with the Dual Beam Sabres any day. Don't get me wrong, I DO like pole weapons (Especially Scythes and Naginatas) but I don't think that, as a combo, it works. Have you been playing Soul Calibre or something?**_

_**As I said, I seem to REALLY like Crack Pairings. Cima is, hands down, my favourite Gundam Girl. She's a gorgeous badass, but not hyper-sexualised like the girls in Gundam DD- I mean Gundam 00. In my opinion, it could work if it wasn't fluff, but dark with how it's portrayed. Kou is very much an innocent sort of guy (he refuses to eat carrots) and Cima is a woman whose innocence has been corrupted by war (She was there at the Colony Gassing Incident). In some ways, Cima is representative of what Kou could become if he stayed the course as the Federation's pawn much like how she was Zeon's pawn. I think it could work in a very "Yin/Yang" sort of way. And let's face it, anything's better than freaking Nina Purpleton. SEED's problem is its lack of characterisation. Nina's is her characterisation is so irregular and back to front. She claims to be over Gato and devoted to Kou yet pulls a gun on him when forced to choose between the two of them. I always seem to like it when a protagonist is paired with an older woman and when I say older, I mean OLDER. Another weird one like this is pairing Setsuna with Sumeragi which I would kill to see someone take a serious crack at… I may do it one day along with KouXCima. You can probably guess that I am all for JudauXHaman. **_

_**worldwanderer2.0:Believe me when I say that the sheer prospect of it is not appealing. A part of me is tempted to be a complete asshole and write her in the worst way that is humanly possible. I am also sorely tempted to completely screw over canon and have her pod explode or something. However, I am a fair man and will write in an unbiased way (or, at least, I'll try to).**_

_**I guess I will just have to call upon my Unicorn Gundam and Banshee (Full Armour and Norne) to render your Psychoframes useless. Regarding Axis, I'm sure my army of Mass-Produced Nu Gundams will be able to handle it nicely. I suppose I will give them some help and send my army of Purus in Mass-Produced Qubeleys to assist also. Their Psychoframes should do the job easily. And while your Nightingale and Nu Gundams are completely paralysed after being torn apart by their own Funnels, the Hi-Nu will mosey in after the Banshee and Unicorn have left and just casually stab them. What say we call it even and I will have my Army die preventing Axis from falling on Earth and thus neither of us wins? We both fought the good fight, no? Please…?**_

* * *

Chapter 7: A Glimpse of Potential

**Vesalius…**

The heavily damaged Nazca-Class that's missing a large chunk of its Left-hand engine and a large piece of its central aread, has just entered the area that houses ZAFT's home colonies: the ever-famous PLANTs, the homes to all Coordinators who joined ZAFT to flee from the Alliance.

"We've caught the Guide Beacon." One of the Bridge Officers informed Captain Ades and his confidant (Rau) as his console gives him directions to one of the various docking stations spread throughout the area in which the PLANTs reside as well as the proper procedures to make contact with the station. "Instructions have been given to enter the Number Four Dock." He further informs them, "Match entry vector. Beacon detection confirmed! Course correction: 0.3, mark 16.2, delta. Turn around 180 degrees, begin deceleration."

The large Nazca-Class turned in a complete 180 degree motion thanks to its manoeuvring and ignited its main engines to help slow it down in preparation for the docking.

"Will you be bringing Athrun Zala and Miguel Aiman to the enquiry?" Fredrik asked his comrade.

"I WILL be taking Athrun with me." Rau confirmed, "He was there when the incident took place and can analyse things calmly and objectively."

"And Miguel?" Fredrik asks.

"Unfortunately, Frank Hiliner, the chief engineer at the Orion Nine Mobile Suit Base, has requested that he come for his GINN as soon as humanly possible due to him wanting to run Miguel through some slight changes to his GINN. As well as this, he wants to letting him get reacquainted with it and will probably take a sufficient amount of time, more than the meeting will go on for." Rau explains, "Since we will be departing relatively as soon as the Vesalius is repaired, Miguel will be taking a different shuttle aside from the one that me and Athrun will be taking to Aprilius One that will transport him to the base."

"So he won't be able to see his mother and brother?" Fredrik clarifies, a slight tone of sympathy coming forward in his voice.

"Unfortunately not…" Rau responds, sharing in the sympathy. The room becomes silent for a few seconds as an awkward feeling engulfs the atmosphere.

"… I hear that ORB is protesting emphatically." Fredrik mentions, trying to break the awkward atmosphere.

"The important thing is what the problem is from _OUR _perspective, Ades." Rau responds.

"R-right…"

"Hurry with the re-supply and repair of the Vesalius." Rau urges him, "We may have been given time to rest, but it is not much." He smirks a little, "Not likely, anyway."

* * *

**Archangel…**

The white ship is in a state of relative peace. They have not been attacked by the ever aggressive X numbers since their rather explosive escape from Artemis. They managed to take this time of peace to successfully repair the CIWS that were damaged from Miguel's assault on the Archangel. Aside from this, they also managed to use this rare moment of peace to fully repair the captured GINN and it is just as functioning as the Strike is now. Unfortunately, it's weapons still only comprise of an empty Heavy Machine Gun and a Heavy Sword. They would use the bullets used to stock the CIWS, unfortunately, the GINN's Machine Gun uses a slightly larger calibre, rendering it difficult to do so. The other issue is, of course, its OS. Since Kira is the only Coordinator on the ship, the GINN lacks any pilot who can significantly use it.

"Reconfirmed." Jackie informs the Bridge Crew, "No sign of the enemy ship within 5000 kilometres. It appears they've completely lost us." Upon this news, Murrue rests her head in the palm of her hand to signify relief.

"Artemis got all the attention, so we were able to escape unnoticed." Mu theorises, turning to address his captain as he sits in the co-pilots seat, "We should be thankful for that alone."

"However…" Natarle interjects, slightly turning her chair to address the captain.

"Yes, I know." Murrue responds, "We're fortunate that we lost the Laurasia-Class, but none of our other problems have been solved."

As this rather sombre conversation occurs on the bridge, Sai has just asked something of his Love Interest, Flay. Something that seems to annoy her.

"What, do I have to?" Flay complains.

"Well, I can't force you to." Sai assures her, "But don't you think you should apologise, given the situation?"

"It's a fact that he went through all kinds of trouble because of what you said." Tolle explains, "even if Cagalli was with him." He adds.

"But still!" She retorts, "All I said was…"

"We're used to it," Tolle says, "But, in this situation, the fact that he's a Coordinator poses a delicate problem."

"Anyway, could you at least tell him you're sorry?" Sai asks, "Otherwise, it would be awkward when you're around each other."

"If you insist Sai, I'll say it." She responds with a somewhat annoyed tone.

"But I wonder what's going to happen to this ship from now on." Tolle remarks, changing the conversation to something less depressing to which Sai makes an agreeable "Hm."

"We couldn't get any supplies while docked at Artemis, could we?" Sai mentions.

"No."

"I wonder if ZAFT's going to keep coming after us…"

* * *

**Vesalius…**

The Nazca-Class ship is now fully clamped into place in Dock 4 and repairs have already begun on the battered ship. A Transport Shuttle has arrived to ferry the Red Coat (Athrun) and White Coat (Rau) to Apprilius One. Miguel would have to wait for another shuttle that would ferry him to Orion Nine. He's also stood at the airlock with Rau and Athrun to see them off.

"I'll see you later, Athrun." Miguel addresses his friend with a friendly tone, shaking his hand and smiling a little to which Athrun responds in kind.

"You too, Miguel." Athrun responds, finishing their hand shake.

"Next time we see each other, I'll be back and ready to kick the Strike's ass!" Miguel remarks with a cocky tone, pointing to himself with his thumb. As a result, Athrun's eyes become slightly saddened while Rau lets out an amused chuckle.

"I hope to see that determination when you next sortie, Miguel." He remarks, causing Miguel's cocky expression to drop, turn to his superior and salute with a ramrod pose.

"Sir!" Rau chuckles again before turning to the Airlock along with Athrun, "Wait, sir…" Miguel addresses the White Coat again, causing Rau to turn back to look at him.

"Yes, Miguel?"

"Will… Will I be able to see my family before we leave again, sir?" Miguel asks hopefully.

"Unfortunately, Miguel, I am going to have to ask you immediately return to the Vesalius once you have successfully collected your GINN." Rau answers with a sympathetic tone, "You may be needed for any further enquiry and I don't have a good estimate of when we will be ready to depart."

"Y-yes, sir…"

"I give you my promise that you will have the chance the next time we return to the PLANTs."

"Thank you, sir."

It's at that point that Rau and Athrun turn away from Miguel and enter the shuttle while Miguel turns to go wait for his craft to arrive.

The Red Coat and White Coat both enter the Shuttle, expecting no company, only to see a trench-coat clad individual that they know all too well. He turns to look at them and they quickly salute as the door closes behind them, Athrun stood there with a surprised expression at the presence of his father, Patrick Zala, Chairman of the PLANTs.

"We will be accompanying you, Your Exellency." Rau addresses the man, "National Defence Committee Chairman Zala."

"No need for formalities." Patrick assures them, raising his hand at them in gesture, "You never saw me on this shuttle." He informs them as he turns to the Red Coat. "Got that, Athrun?"

"I understand, Father." Athrun responds with a hollow tone, "Long time, no see."

The Shuttle departs from the Vesalius and its dock and heads straight for the PLANTs. As the shuttle makes its journey, its three passengers continue their conversation.

"Needless to say, I agree with your opinions in your report." Patrick assures them, "The problem is the fact that they've developed such advanced Mobile Suits." He surmises, "We'll ignore the part about the pilot." This comments surprises Athrun, "I went ahead and deleted that section."

"Thank you very much." Rau thanks his superior, "I was confident you would make that decision."

"Imagine the public reaction if we told them that the one machine we left is being piloted by a Coordinator." Patrick reasons, "It would only give the moderate faction something unnecessary to argue about."

"Wouldn't you also find it difficult to have your friend be referred to as someone who switched sides to the Earth Forces, due to your report?" Rau asks Athrun, turning to look back towards him.

"Uh… No, but…" He falls over his words. Patrick turns back to regard him.

"The Naturals created a Mobile Suit that performs that well even with a Natural piloting it." Patrick declares, surprising his son, "That's what we're reporting, got it, Athrun?"

"Yes."

"We must be more serious about this." Patrick declares, "That way, we can end this war."

* * *

**Archangel…**

Kira's entourage of friends (minus Cagalli who was helping him with maintenance) were taking a small break and helping themselves to a tray of food. Tolle was unfortunate enough to engulf a piece of food incorrectly and has begun to choke as a result.

"W-water!" He cries out, patting his chest to try and prevent the choking and alerting his friends as a result, "Water!" His Love interest lets out a moan of annoyance before placing her rather empty glass of water in front of Tolle who snatches the glass and gulps down its contents all at once, still patting his chest, "W-water, I need more water!"

"Stop making inappropriate jokes that aren't funny." Sai scolds him, taking a tray from the counter and walking to sit next to his Love Interest.

"I'm not joking!" Tolle responds, "Dammit!"

As Sai sits down, Flay slides down the table away from him. Confused, he slides to the left to sit next to her and she repeats the action.

"What?" Sai asks confusedly, "Is something the matter?"

"Because of these water restrictions, I couldn't take a shower yesterday." She responds with an embarrassed tone. The group all look at her for a few moments before Sai lets out a sigh, fiddling with his glasses as a result. The door then opens and Kira and Cagalli step through.

"Are you finished with the Strike's maintenance?"

"Yeah, but limited use of the washer makes things a lot harder." Kira remarks.

"Parts get dirty, you know." Cagalli adds.

Flay lets out a small sigh before Sai gives her a slight nudge with his shoulder, alerting her as she turns towards him.

"Flay." He simply says. She turns away with a frown, sitting still for a few moments before standing off the bench and turning to address Kira, who turns to address her. Cagalli also watches silently from behind her.

"U-um, Kira?" She addresses him, "I'm sorry for what happened the other day! I said those things without really thinking."

"About what?"

"At Artemis," She reminds Kira, "I said that you're a Coordinator." Kira's face turns to a frown for a split second before a reassuring smile replaces it.

"Oh, never mind about that." He assures her, "I'm not upset about it. Besides, it's true."

"Thank you." She replies, before looking back at Sai, seeking his approval who simple turns away.

Cagalli notices this little gesture and connects the dots. Being raised predominantly around politicians, she was well aware of the meaning of "bullshit" and "dishonesty" and had developed an almost sixth sense for it and being able to see right through it. She could tell that the apology was half-hearted and somewhat forced, but she wasn't fully sure why Flay would go to the trouble. Her turning to Sai, however, made things clear. She was simply doing it for him, not out of the good of her heart. Cagalli knows one thing about people who do things like that:

You keep an eye on them.

As Cagalli thinks over this, Kira is looks at the various empty glasses of water and kept help but think what they are going to do about it.

At that moment, the Bridge Crew were discussing matters and what directions to take. The large viewscreen mapping out various routes the Archangel can take from their current coordinators.

"Is this our best position?" Natarle complains, "Isn't there a better route?"

"Impossible." Arnold responds, "If we set our route too close to Earth, we'll end up entering the debris belt." He demonstrates by showing the route on the view-screen, "Even though taking that route WOULD get us to Lunar Orbit sooner."

"_Can't_ we go through it?" Murrue asks.

"The debris belt? That's impossible!" Arnold assures her with a heated tone, "If we attempted to go through it while maintaining this speed we'd end up as part of the debris."

"A mountain of garbage that humanity has scattered since going to space." Mu remarks, "It's true that we don't want to be a part of that…" He then has a brainwave, "Wait a minute… the debris belt…" Murrue lets out a confused "huh?" as a result. He turns his chair to address her, "I'm a man who makes the impossible possible, right?"

* * *

**Aprilius One Interior…**

A shuttle craft (albeit not as luxurious as the one carrying Athrun, Patrick and Rau) has just picked up Miguel and is ferrying him to Orion Nine. As this occurs, Athrun and Rau are riding one of the various high-speed elevators into the core of Aprilius One. A news channel plays on the in-elevator view-screen. The reporters have just finished their latest piece of news.

"In other news," They begin, "Prior to a ceremony mourning the lives lost in the Junius Seven tragedy exactly one year ago, Supreme Council Chairman Clyne made a statement." This information garners Athrun and Rau's attention, the former lowering his datapad to better regard it as a recording of the speech appears on-screen. Sigel Clyne stands in view with his daugher, Lacus Clyne, stood next to him.

"That unfortunate incident has left us with a deep sorrow that we shall never forget." He spoke.

"By the way," Rau turns to address Athrun, "Aren't you engaged to that girl?"

"Y-yes."

"I hear Miss Lacus is also going with the memorial delegation." Rau informs him, "That's wonderful."

"Yes." Athrun responds rather stiffly.

"You two, the children of Committee Chairman Zala and Chairman Clyne, tying the knot…" Rau remarks, "It's certain to bring a bright light to the next generation. We're counting on you."

"Thank you very much."

As Athrun says this, the elevator moves into view of the Colony interior. A large amount of grassland can be seen as well as the large urban areas.

"It's our responsibility, right now, to protect that generation." Rau remarks. A stern expression crosses Athrun's expression.

* * *

**Some time later, Orion Nine…**

Around the same time as Rau and Athrun arrive at the Council Building and Rau begins to relay the events of Heliopolis to the Council, the shuttle carrying Miguel has just reached Orion Nine.

Orion Nine is not a PLANT. It is simply a small mass of asteroids that have had repair facilities built into them. The Nine is derived from the fact that the small repair station is a connection of nine different asteroids all tied together by Airlock Corridors large enough for supply craft and Mobile Suits to fly through. Eight of these asteroids house Mobile Suit repair bays while the ninth houses a small residential section. This is what makes it so efficient as a Repair Station, the crew don't have far to go either way. Another convenient aspect of the station is that the Residential Asteroid is connected to all eight other asteroids as its larger than the others so Airlock corridors can be connected to it. This is made more convenient by the fact that it resides in the centre, allowing for such connection.

"This is shuttle 4859, can you hear me, Orion Nine?" The shuttle operator called over the communicator, "Repeat, can you hear me?"

"We read you loud and clear, Shuttle 4859." A stern voice calls over the communicator, "State your business."

"Pilot Miguel Aiman is here to collect his personal GINN." The Shuttle pilot quickly replies.

"Stand by." The voice commands.

A few tedious minutes pass as Miguel, who is sat in the cargo bay, loses his patience and walks up to the cabin.

"What's taking so long?" He asks with irritation in his tone.

"Wanna know a big problem with Orion Nine?" He asks rhetorically, "Their communication between each section is garbage." They both chuckle a little at this.

"I guessed so." Miguel remarks with a semi-amused tone.

A few more minutes pass of comfortable silence as Miguel has elected to take a seat in the co-pilot's chair instead, his feet propped up on top of the console in obvious relaxation, his hands behind his head. Eventually, the communicator blares into life.

"Your business has been confirmed, shuttle 4859." The voice informs him. "Your passenger's Mobile Suit is located in Orion 9-7. Please proceed there immediately. Chief Engineer Frank Hiliner will be there to greet your passenger."

"Copy that, Control."

"About time." Miguel mutters.

The shuttle's engines blare into life as the small craft flies towards the Asteroid at a relatively quick speed. Within a short period of time, they arrive at the appropriate asteroid and enter through the large Airlock. Guarding this entrance are five GINNs armed with normal Heavy Machine Guns. Miguel whistles at the sight.

"Paranoid bunch, aren't they?" He remarks.

"Other problem with Orion Nine." The pilot counters, "It's so fragile that destroying one piece of it sends it all straight to hell."

"How come?"

"They all have reactors in their core to power them." He responds, "One gets destroyed and another will get caught in the explosion, causing that one to get destroyed. Know what I mean?"

"Yeah… I get you."

They enter the airlock and instead are greeted to a large sign saying "All departing passengers must wear Normal Suits."

"Apparently, they find it easier to work in vacuum." The pilot informs Miguel, "It's also a lot less hassle for craft and Mobile Suits coming to and from the place."

"I better get mine on then." Miguel remarks with a grin. He quickly enters the cabin's bathroom and hastily pulls on his Normal Suit that he was carrying around in a duffle bag. Within a minute, he's back out of the bathroom and sat back in the co-pilot's chair, helmet on his lap just as the shuttle enters a large Mobile Suit bay where various GINNs are being worked on. The overall structure of the bay was one large cylinder where Mobile Suit berths were placed all around its surface area. Some have the standard paint job while some have unique ones. There are also some variants of the standard GINN being repaired such as a GINN Assault Type. The heavily armoured GINN stands idle in its berth. Miguel also spotted a few non-GINN Mobile Suits such as CGUEs and DINNs.

"This is Frank Hilinger." A rather relaxed voice calls over the intercom, "Shuttle 4859, if you want to just drop of your passenger where you are, I'll take it from there."

"Roger." The pilot responds before turning to Miguel. "This is your stop, kid. Go out through the bay doors or you'll vent atmosphere into this cockpit."

"Alright, see you." Miguel responds as he slips his helmet on and exits the cabin after giving a wave to the pilot. He opens the rear bay door hatch and drifts out after taking a thrusters pack from one of the lockers in the bay. Once the shuttle bay doors close behind him, the craft turns around and flies back down the tunnel to leave. Miguel is not left idle for long as a man eventually approaches him. He's wearing a standard ZAFT (Not Military) Normal Suit. His appearance implies that he is in his 30s, having short and swept-back brown hair. He also has small black stubble growing over his chin.

"You Miguel?" He addresses Miguel who nods in response, "I'm Frank Hilinger. It's a pleasure." He has a cheerful smile and holds out his hand to shake. Miguel responds appropriately.

"Likewise." He returns the smile before they finish the handshake and Frank gestures behind him.

"Strange that a Green Shirt has a custom GINN and not even a special pilot suit." Miguel frowns a little before putting his hands behind his helmet in an exaggerative gesture.

"Guess I just ain't special enough to warrant a promotion." Miguel remarks, "And by promotion, I mean my Mother or Father aren't in the Council." Frank lets out a loud laugh.

"Ain't that the truth!" He says with a raucous tone before dying down his laughter and pointing towards a certain direction, "Just follow me and I'll take you to your GINN."

"Lead the way, sir." Miguel responds with an equally cheerful tone.

They both start to drift towards the direction of the GINN as Frank leads and Miguel follows, a comfortable silence between the two.

"You know, they never told what happened to it when they brought your GINN to the station. Thing had taken quite a beating." Frank remarks, "Care to tell me?"

"Some stupid mercenary piloting a jacked-up GINN caught me off guard." Miguel responds, frowning a little at his rather embarrassing defeat that he recalls. "You mentioned some changes to my GINN?"

"Oh, its nothing on the surface." Frank explains, "We just upped the performance a little. Instead of having a 20% Increase on your thrust power, you've got a 30% now."

"That's sweet." Miguel responds with a grin.

"We also managed to improve the reaction time so you should be able react a little faster." Frank continues.

"Anything else?" Miguel asks hopefully.

"Not much else, no." Miguel has a dejected look, "But we heard that you're taking the thing to fight off some new Alliance Mobile Suit, am I right?"

"Right on." Miguel responds, "The thing wasn't no pushover, either."

"We heard that the thing uses beam weaponry, mostly?"

"Yeah." Miguel responds, "Stuff like Beam Sabres and Beam Rifles."

"Right, so we did you a little favour." Frank responds, "We've applied an Anti-Beam coating to your custom shield. That should stop a few shots from a Beam Rifle, but don't expect to stop a Battleship cannon with it."

"Thanks." Miguel responds with a grateful tone.

"We also applied an Anti-Beam Coating to the Heavy Sword." Frank continues, "You should be able to clash with a Beam Sabre and it won't melt like butter now."

"That's… actually really useful." Miguel remarks, "I can seriously kick the Strike's ass without being afraid that he'll just cut through everything I'll throw at him. Anything else?"

"We modified two Heavy Machine Guns to house a large rocket on the underside of the barrel. It, sort of, works like a grenade launcher. You'll want to take them with you when you leave." Frank continues, "Since you're fighting a Mobile Suit with enhanced armour, we thought you might need the extra firepower."

"Like the Duel's…" Miguel thinks to himself. "Thanks for the help."

"Glad to see you improve of our modifications. Won't do you much good in gravity, but that's why they're called "Zero Gravity Manouever Fighters", am I right? Because they suck everywhere else." Frank says rhetorically, with an amused tone, before pointing somewhere, "Ah, there it is."

Miguel looks to where he was pointing to see that his GINN was, indeed, present, its signature Orange and White Colour scheme very easy to distinguish. It had several pieces of decals stamped on the body. On the right shoulder-pad, there is a Skull and crossbone in front of an outlined, hollow black pentagon. On the left one, there was a single word saying "Defrock" on it. On the right leg, there are the initials "DF" written there with a small star at the top corner of the "F ." The only really unique aspect about it, in terms of armament, is that, unlike a normal GINN, it carries a Kite Shield that has served Miguel well and will, hopefully, continue to serve him well. It also has his emblem stamped upon it. It wasn't fully complete; however, as bits of its armour were still missing and large cables were protruding out of its cockpit.

"How long till their finished?" Miguel asks with a semi-annoyed tone. The prospect of waiting even longer for his GINN was a prospect that did not appeal to Miguel at all. He hated waiting. Luckily, Frank let out a small chuckle before patting him on the shoulder.

"Not much longer." He assures Miguel, "They're just doing the finishing touches. You won't be here for longer than a day if even that."

"While you wait…" Frank gestures to the various Mobile Suits that are docked and being worked on, "Feel free to look around, your Mobile Suit is in berth 89 in case you get lost. I'll give you a call when it's ready." Miguel smiles a little.

"I guess I gotta keep myself entertained somehow, don't I?"

* * *

**Archangel…**

A large meeting is currently occurring on the bridge of the Archangel as a significant number of the crew are just listening to a suggestion made by one Mu La Flaga.

"Supplies?" Sai ask incredulously, "We can get supplies? Where?"

"Get supplies, yes." Mu confirms, "Or, more accurately, _take _supplies."

"We're currently on our way to the debris belt." Murrue explains.

"Debris belt?" Sai mutters, "But… wait a minute! You don't mean…!"

"You're pretty bright." Mu remarks playfully, wagging his finger at Sai.

"The debris belt consists of a wide variety of things in space." Murrue continues, "Of course, that includes ships that have been destroyed in battle."

"You're not suggesting we get our supplies from there, are you?" Tolle asks incredulously.

"What other choice do we have?" Mu counters, "Unless we do, we're not gonna last."

"Once we're there, we'd like you to help us with work outside of the ship, using pods." Murrue continues to explain, causing sombre sighs from the group.

"We're not delighted about this, either." Natarle assures the group, "But we have no choice if we want to survive." This provokes more gasps from the crowd.

"We're not going there to hunt around for things that others have lost." Murrue assures them, "We're just going to take a small share of what we're in immediate need of… In order to live…"

* * *

**Some time later… Aprilius One Council Chambers…**

"I believe you can understand that, from the events you just saw, that our actions were not intended as an attack on Heliopolis itself and that the biggest reason for the collapse lies with the Earth Forces." Rau concludes, "That ends my report." He finishes before saluting and turning to sit back down with Athrun, leaving the council to their delegations.

"So ORB was working with the Earth Forces, after all. They're the ones who ignored the treaty."

"However, Representative Attha has…"

"We can't trust anything those living on Earth say!"

"However, Commader Le Creuset…" Patrick swiftly interjects, standing from his chair addressing the White Coat, "Are the Mobile Suits of the Earth Forces really valuable enough to account for all the sacrifices made to get them?"

"To explain their marvellous abilities to you," Rau counters, "I have one of our pilots with me, who has not only piloted one of those machines, but has battled the one machines that we failed to take." He glances towards Athrun who looks back at him, "I request to have Athrun Zala report on this."

A brief silence passes over the chamber as Patrick turns towards Seigel expectandly who turns away in kind. He glances back towards Patrick after a few moments.

"I will allow Athrun Zala to report." He declares.

The magenta-haired Red Coat approaches the Council Table and sternly salutes before a small beeping sound can be heard throughout the chamber. The view-screen within the chamber blares into life to reveal the Aegis stood in its berth with various cabling protruding out of it. It is also stood next to a couple of GINNs. The council all gasp slightly at the sight of it.

"First, this is the Aegis…" Athrun begins, "A major characteristic is…"

* * *

**Some time later…**

The Strike Gundam (Equipped with the Aile Pack) just takes off from the Archangel followed by a small group of Mistrals (One piloted by Cagalli (there was no one extra for the co-pilot's seat), the Strike's Phase Shift armour activating, colouring the Mobile Suit as they fly towards the Debris Belt. As this occurs, Miguel Aiman has been informed that the repairs for his Mobile Suit have been fully completed and all that remains is for some extra work to the OS before it's ready. As well as this, Athrun Zala has just finished his speech.

"And there you have it." Athrun concludes his report with a salute, moving to sat back down on the bench next to Rau. As he goes to sit down, the politicians begin to bicker amongst themselves. Some see this as a future prelude to a full-scale assault by the Earth Forces while others simply believe that they are prototypes and will pose no future threat. Their bickering is ceased soon enough as Siegel Clyne speaks up to try and calm the fires.

"Silence, Committee members!" Siegel commands, Rau smirking at the witnessed chaos, "Silence!" As this very thing passes over the chamber, the Strike and Mistrals venture further into the debris.

"There is no one who prefers to fight!" Patrick declares, "Who amongst us actually wants to head out to a battlefield?"

The Archangel soon follows suit and enters the debris field.

"We want to live peacefully, gradually and happily." He Comments, "That has been our wish."

Kira and the rest of the Archangel crew all gasp at the sight in front of them.

"But who ruthlessly shattered that wish?" He asks rhetorically, "Who took away our freedom for their own convenience and ambitions and continue to use us?"

Several pieces of farmland equipment pass by the Strike's group as they slowly realise where they are.

"We will never forget the Bloody Valentine!" Patrick declares, "The tragedy of Junius Seven!"

This was, indeed, the colony that the Archangel has stumbled upon, Murrue simply stood out of chair and looked at the devastation with a shocked expression.

"243, 721 People." Patrick informed them, "It's been a year since we lost all those countrymen in that abominable incident yet we've racked our brains to try and end this war quickly by making minimal demands. However, the Naturals have put our efforts to waste time and time again!"

At that moment, Kira's group landed on the surface of the Colony remains and have begun to explore. They search through a wrecked building and open a door to find, unfortunately, a woman holding her daughter in her arms. Her body is cold and lifeless and has not decayed since the incident due to the lack of oxygen. Miriallia can only let out a squeal of terror at the sight while the others with steelier nerves (Natarle, Cagalli, Kira) can only look at it with a disturbed expression. Kira also notices the small, ruined teddy bear drifting right next to the corpses.

"We fight to protect ourselves." Patrick declares, "If we cannot protect without fighting, we have no choice but to fight!"

As Patrick concludes his passionate speech, a tense silence fills the chamber as Siegel lets out a long sigh at the current situation.

* * *

**Some time later… Archangel…**

"That water over there?" Kira asks incredulously as the majority of the crew are stood on the bridge for another meeting, "Are you serious?"

"There's close to a hundred million tons frozen over on it." Natarle reasons.

"But you saw it for yourself, didn't you, Ms. Natarle?" Kira counters. "That PLANT is where hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives and yet…"

"That's the only water we've been able to find." Murrue adds.

"No one's jumping for joy." Mu assures him, "No one's shouting 'hooray, we found water!'"

"Lieutenant La Flaga…"

"Nobody wants to step onto that place if it can be helped, but it can't be helped!" Mu reasons, "We're alive! That means we must continue to live!"

All of the crew share concerned looks as they ponder what he has just said to them, wrestling with the moral dilemma at foot.

* * *

**Apprilius One… Council Chambers…**

The meeting has finally concluded and the members of the Supreme Council have all began to depart from the premises. Athrun Zala stands to the left of the door in a saluting pose, honouring the politicians as they walk on by. Soon enough, they all leave and Siegel is last to exit the room who walks on over to Athrun.

"Athrun," Siegel addresses the Coordinator.

"Your excellency, Chairman Clyne." Athrun answers with reverence.

"You know there's no need to stand on ceremony with me." Siegel assures the boy.

"Well, I uh…"

"Now that you've returned, Lacus is away on business." Siegel remarks, "When will you two make some time to finally see each other?"

"I'm sorry, sir." Athrun apologises.

"There's no reason to apologize to me." Siegel assures him as he walks with Athrun to observe one of the fossilised remains that are on display, "However, things are going to get hectic again… Although I understand your father's comments."

"Athrun Zala!" The familiar voice calls from behind them, alerting the two as they turn to see Rau Le Creuset and Patrick Zala walking towards them. "We're going after that newly-made ship and Mobile Suit." Athrun makes a small gasp, "The Laconi and Porto teams are joining under my command. We're leaving in 72 Hours!"

"Yes, sir!" Athrun responds.

"Excuse us, Your Excellency Chairman Clyne." Rau apologises, saluting the man. Athrun does so as well and the White and Red Coats take off in another direction to leave as Patrick approaches Siegel Clyne.

"We have very little time." Siegel remarks, "What good will it do to escalate the war for no reason?"

"That's exactly why we cannot forgive them." Patrick responds, "Those who get in our way."

As they converse, a Music Video of Lacus Clyne begins to play on the View-Screens throughout the PLANT. As the song continues, Rau and Athrun drive through the PLANT and away from the Council Building. Athrun glances at the various View-Screens thoughtfully.

Elsewhere, Miguel Aiman has just been told his GINN has been completed and is ready to sortie. He was quietly listening to the song that could be heard over Orion Nine's speakers before being informed of this news and began to drift back towards his Mobile Suit.

In another place, various paper flowers were being made by the crew of the Archangel in remembrance of the lives lost at Junius Seven. As the song continues, the bundle of flowers make their way to Miriallia who stands on a small chunk of rock overlooking the devastation. She holds the flowers close to her chest for a few moments before throwing the bundle into space, the various paper flowers scattering in the wind. The bridge crew (Romero, Arnold, Murrue, Mu) all adopt various respective poses in respect to the deceased. Murrue holds a small locket to her chest also. Kira and Cagalli also watch with thoughtful expressions at the gesture made by a Natural Crew to dead Coordinators, Coordinators who, according to Blue Cosmos, must be "cleansed."

After departing from Rau Le Creuset, Athrun took a one man shuttle to another one of the PLANTs for some personal business, all while the song continues to play. He arrives at a large graveyard where various tombs lay, however, he stands in front of a single one with a bouquet of flowers. The name on the tomb reads "Lenore Zala," Athrun's mother and Patrick's wife. As the song ends, Athrun departs from the graveyard.

* * *

**Orion Nine…**

Miguel has finally arrived at his Custom GINN and the machine is clearly ready to go and ultimately concluded that he wouldn't have to worry about getting it rearmed before departing the PLANTs. There is no missing armour pieces or protruding wires save for the Power Cable. The only real difference he can see from when he last saw it is the GINN's main weapon: The Heavy Machine Gun. Instead of the small grip on the underside of the barrel, a large cylinder-shaped Missile is located in its place, similar in design to the missiles use by the Leg Launchers. Miguel noticed that the GINN was holding one of these weapons while the other was mounted on its back skirt. The Heavy Sword (located on the left skirt mount) also had a slight shine from it, probably from the beam coating as this same shine was present on the shield itself (which was being held by the GINN's left hand). There was also a pair of Leg-Mounted Missile Launchers already attached to the side of each of its legs. Soon enough, he reached the cockpit, its hatch already opened, and saw Frank waiting for him.

"She's all ready now?" Miguel asked.

"Yep." Frank clarified, "So you heading back out now?"

"I ain't sure, exactly." Miguel responds, "I'll probably go back to the port and wait for orders or something."

"Well…" Frank holds out his hand to shake, "Godspeed and give those Naturals hell."

"You bet your ass I will." Miguel responded cockily before grabbing the hand and shaking it. They soon end their goodbye as Miguel clambers into the cockpit and shuts the hatch behind him. He takes a seat and activates the Mobile Suits OS, the dull cockpit lighting up as the computer and view-screens all come to life. The GINN's eye lights up to signal its activation. Frank sees this and flies out of the way. The berth comes loose and Miguel's GINN drifts upwards and out of the row of various Mobile Suits so that he can face the tunnel to leave. He ignites his GINN's thrusters and the Mobile Suit takes off down the tunnel, severing the Power Cable as it goes. Miguel certainly feels the increase in thruster power as the GINN flies significantly quicker. Soon enough, he flies out of the tunnel and back into open space. He takes this opportunity to get reacquainted with his Mobile Suit's controls and performs a series of manoeuvres, spinning his GINN, Suddenly back-pedalling then flying backwards and aiming his rifle in several directions.

As he continues this practice, his communication console blares into life and alerts him to a message. He opens the file to see the following:

RETURN TO MAIN BASE AFTER DELIVERING YOUR GINN TO THE VESALIUS, MIGUEL. ATHRUN IS ALSO WAITING AT THE BASE AND YOU WILL RETURN BACK TO THE SHIP, TOGETHER, ONCE REPAIRS ARE COMPLETED. WE WILL BE DEPARTING IN 72 HOURS; HOWEVER, I CANNOT PERMIT YOU TO LEAVE THE BASE IN THAT TIME SHOULD YOUR PRESENCE BE REQUIRED FOR ANY ENQUIRY.

RAU LE CREUSET.

"Dammit!" Miguel complains, "I guess I really won't get the chance to see them…"

He soon finishes his practice and takes off in the direction of the Vesalius, feeling both confident at reacquiring his Personal GINN, but depressed that he couldn't see his family.

Especially after he promised he would…

* * *

**Archangel…**

Work was being conducted by Kira's friends in the Mistrals to mine the various blocks of ice floating around the area. Kira, in the Strike, patrolled around the debris and kept a watchful eye on things should any sort of threats approach them while they work. The same was also true for Mu who patrolled the area in his Moebius Zero.

"How much longer?" Murrue asks.

"I'd say four hours." Romero replies, "Although we'll have enough ammunition for one more trip."

Kira stops patrolling momentarily to better scan the area. It was now that he sees a large green and white shuttle appear from behind some wreckage. Unlike the rest of the wreckage, this one looked relatively new and had signs of battle damage across its hull.

"A civilian ship?" He surmises, "It must've been sunk." He theorises before his proximity sensors beep into life, alerting Kira. From behind the wrecked civilian ship, a ZGMF-LRR704B GINN Long Range Reconnaissance Type emerges, wielding a Sniper Rifle. The Mobile Suit scans the area as Kira locks onto it, scanning the Mobile Suit.

"A reconnaissance-type two-seater GINN?!" Kira exclaims, "What's it doing here?"

As he says this, the GINN moves to the bridge of the Civilian ship and analyses it. It drifts away and scans the area again, its monoeye going back and forth.

"If it finds the Archangel and calls for backup, we're finished." He exclaims before activating his Cockpit's targeting system, the device sliding in front of his eyes as the Strike takes aim over the unaware GINN. The Mobile Suit continues to hover around as Kira refuses to fire, hoping that it will lose interest and leave. "Go! Go away! Just leave…" Luckily, his prayers are answered as the GINN begins to fly away, moving to search somewhere else. Unfortunately, Kira's sight is obscured as a Mistral, carrying supplies, comes into his field of vision. The GINN turns around and notices the Mistral and begins to fly straight towards the helpless Mobile Pod. "You idiot! Why'd you have to notice?!" He takes lock again on the GINN who raises its rifle to attack the Mistral.

"It's ZAFT!" Dalida, its pilot, exclaims as Kuzzey lets out a cry of terror.

"I've gotta…" Kira mutters, his hands shaking in hesitation as the GINN begins to open fire, grazing the Mobile Pod and causing its crew to cry in terror.

All of a sudden, a burst of bullets collided with the GINN's back, stunning and alerting the Mobile Suit. Kira lets out a surprised gasp and momentarily takes his finger off the trigger. Dalida and Kuzzey also look to see who their saviour is. They get their answer when, as the GINN turns to face its attacker, is rammed by a Mistral, sending the GINN backwards and letting go of its Sniper Rifle. A female battle cry over the console alerts Kira to who it is.

"Cagalli?!" He mutters to himself.

The GINN moves to punch the Mistral with its right fist when one of the Mistral's loading arms grabs hold of the arm as it is raised. The GINN attempts to do so, again, with it's other hand for Cagalli to respond with grabbing its arm with the other loading arm.

"Please hold!" Cagalli grinds through her teeth. Unfortunately, the GINN still has its legs and knees the Mistral. This, however, does not help the GINN itself as the Mistral flies upward with enough momentum to pull the GINN's arms off. Quickly recovering, Cagalli let enough another volley with her Mistral's vulcans and tore through the GINN's chest. The GINN drifted away for a few moments before exploding.

As Cagalli sits in the cockpit with ragged breath and a slight headache after getting knocked around quite a bit; Kira, Kuzzey and Dalida can only look on in shock as they realise what just happened.

Cagalli had just managed to beat a GINN in a Mistral.

"Thanks, Cagalli!" Dalida calls over the console, "I thought we were done for!"

Snapping out of his shock, Kira ignites his boosters and flies over to the damaged Mistral.

"Cagalli!" He addresses the pod with worry, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…" She responds.

"Why the hell did you do that?!" Kira asks with a heated tone, "That guy could have killed you!"

"Who was supposed to save your friends?!" She responds with an equally heated tone.

"I was!"

"Yeah?" Cagalli asks, "Well, I didn't even know you were there!" Kira gasps a little at that.

"You didn't?" He asks, his voice calming down slightly.

"No."

"Oh…" Kira mutters, "Sorry."

"It's alright." Cagalli responds with a reassuring tone.

They are broken out of their conversation when a proximity alert activates on Kira's console. He scans the area until he notices a flashing red light. He zooms in on the light to see a ZAFT lifepod.

"A lifepod?" Kira remarks.

"Think it's from the shuttle?" Cagalli asks.

"I don't know…"

* * *

**Some time later…**

The scavenge mission was over and the numerous members of the Archangel crew are stood in the hangar, all observing the Lifepod. Alongside bringing the pod, Kira also collected the GINN Sniper Rifle (which still had ammo) and brought it onboard. Dalida and Kuzzey informed Murrue and the officers about the incident with Cagalli which gave them something to think on later. The incident had given Murrue an idea that she would need to discuss with, both the officers and Cagalli, later. For now, however, they all eagerly want to see what is within the pod.

"You must really enjoy bringing back things that others leave behind." Natarle remarks, "Then again, I suppose bringing back a working GINN weapon is worthy recompense."

"I'm opening it." Murdoch addresses the group as he stands next to the pod. Four Alliance Soldiers all aimed their guns on the pod as Murdoch unlocked the hatch. A small, pink tennis ball-like robot drifted out of the pod.

"Haro, Haro!" The machine repeated, drawing their attention for a moment before a voice alerts them back to the pod.

"Thank you." The voice calls, "I appreciate your assistance."

They all turn to see a certain pink-haired song-stress emerge from the pod, all well aware of just who she is and what her presence will cause on the ship…

* * *

**And so ends chapter 7… God, I don't look forward to next chapter… How do people write Lacus Clyne without hanging themselves? Those few words from her were torture enough as it is!**

**So, a few things happen here. We have a bit of non-canon in the form of Miguel's journey to Orion Nine. I would be interested to note your opinion on it and if I did a good job describing things and whatnot.**

**Flay's on Cagalli's radar now so you can imagine the direction that will go… Though keep it to yourself or you may spoilt it for some people.**

**So Cagalli killed the GINN Recon Type, eh? Wonder what that's going to cause? Wait… I'm the author! Of course I know what's going to happen so I will just use the age old adage of "It's for me to know and for you to find out!"**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

**R-0 Out!**


	8. Chapter 8: A Proposal

_**Hello everyone, R-0 here with the next chapter of my Fanfic. Before we get down to normal business. There is something I wish to address. My Super Robot Wars Fanfic is NOT on hiatus! I will be going back to it eventually, however, I just wish to make substantial progress on this Fanfic beforehand. My Infinite Stratos fanfics, however, ARE on indefinite Hiatus. I don't when I'll go back to them or if I ever will. I find that the quality is sub-par and will probably do a complete re-do in the future.**_

_**Anyway, let's head onto R&A time!**_

_**Guest: Err, Here you go? I sincerely hope the F U wasn't meant in an aggressive manner.**_

_**mega1987: I don't really know much about characters, stat-wise, in the Super Robot Taisen series of games. My only ventures into the franchise, so far, are the OG games so I'll take your word for it. Though it does make sense to me as Cagalli never really went in for melee combat throughout the Cosmic Era timeline. Then again, we only saw her shoot a couple of Strike Daggers in SEED and get completely raped by the Destiny in… Well, SEED Destiny.**_

_**Her role won't be as blatant as a sniper… I'll just leave it at that. Cagalli will play a more active role than just being a mere sniper.**_

_**worldwanderer2.0: As I explained, Cagalli's distrust towards Flay simply comes from the fact that she has spent a long time around politicians who say one thing and mean another which has given her the ability to, If you'll pardon my French, see through someone's bullshit like a clear summer's day. Cagalli seeing Flay do this has caused her to put Flay on the radar.**_

_**I consider Cagalli to be a fair person. She won't immediately dislike or like Lacus as she knows nothing about her. I ain't going to just make her dislike her for no reason other than to reflect my own dislike for the character. Unfortunately, the existence of a Mary Sue in anime has already happened and Lacus Clyne is just that. Hell, even by Fanfiction standards, Lacus is one of the worst Mary Sues I have ever seen and that's saying a lot considering I have experienced a significant number of Mary Sues during my time on . It disgusts me that a writer, who does this for a living, was able to conjure up such a terrible character. Then again, no one stopped her so she's not completely at fault.**_

_**I have a problem with that scenario: I HATE the Federation! Why'd you put me on the Feddie scumbag's side?! Zeon all the way and to hell with the Federation! Give me an old-fashioned Zaku over a Gundam! Mono-eyes all the way! The only Gundams I seriously adore (not to say I don't like others) are the Age-2 Dark Hound, the RX-121-2 Gundam TR-1 (Hazel-II) and the Gundam MK II in Titan Colours.**_

_**Fireminer: Well, I'd gladly take two Shortswords over a Spear and Knife. So that's your prerogative. I ain't going to get too much into this as it's going onto a bit of a tangent.**_

_**Again choosing to ship KouXChristina is your prerogative. I could never ship Christina with anyone BUT Bernie (God, I love Bernie) and Cima just makes more sense as a viable Love Interest to me (again, If it wasn't done in a fluffy way and in a much darker manner). Christina wasn't really weighted or hurt by the war at all. She didn't know that Bernie was in the cockpit so didn't feel any emotional trauma from the incident. The only thing was her getting injured. We saw that she was relatively unfazed by the incident after it and still was a happy cheerful girl. I'm not trying to disagree with you, but my observations of things seems to differ in relation to Christina. Believe me, if you had said Al, I would have agreed, but not Christina.**_

_**edboy4926: See that? THAT's what I hate! The attitude of "I'm the author, I can do whatever I want with these characters even if it means completely changing their character." I don't condone that sort of practice and it's something I hate that Fanfic Authors do. Morosawa had that exact same attitude and raped Cagalli's character as a result, not caring that she was destroying everything that made Cagalli's character awesome just to make her stupid Mary Sue look better all the goddamn time . The only time one can change a character is when they have established that different circumstances have influenced them in a different way. That is it! Any other situations and I can't condone it at all.**_

_**RoyalDragoon: Happy to see that you approve of my treatment of Cagalli.**_

_**Regarding the IWSP, it has been something that I have been christening for a while so don't concern yourself with that. I will say that I haven't decided if I will or won't include it. Also, no offence, but the way you worded it came off as a tad demanding. Not sure if that was your intention, but it came off that way. Again, I appreciate the input so I am not trying to criticise you. Just telling you that it the way to word some things may be misconstrued by some people.**_

_**As I have stated before, this isn't a massive write-up of SEED and will follow Canon pretty much to the letter save for some changes here and there. It's unlikely that I will implement such a plot-point. Destiny is practically guaranteed for some significant rewriting. If anything, there will be a slight canon change here but nothing significant.**_

_**Again, you preferring G-Weapons is pretty much your prerogative. They are referred to that in either manner so it does not really matter which. I pretty much alternate between referring to them as such. **_

_**Zombyra: Again, I'm not in luxury of giving out spoilers so I am not going to tell you about future events within the Fanfic. I have already stated that this will follow canon so I am sure that you can use your imagination.**_

_**NaruSaku fan 100: My condolences. Believe me when I say that I suffer it enough. One of my closest friends is raging Kira and Lacus fanboy.**_

_**Anyway, let us continue onto the next chapter of my Fanfic!**_

* * *

Chapter 8: A Proposal

The pink-haired female (Followed by the tennis ball-sized robot) drifts past the residing crowd of Alliance Soldiers and Kira with his friends friends. She seemingly snaps out of whatever trance she is in and looks back down to the assembled crowd, making a confused "Huh" at her current predicament, clearly confused by her current location and who this group of people are. Her robot drifts behind her and repeatedly spoke "Haro" three times. Kira, seeing her confusion, reaches out to grab her, preventing her movement.

"Thank you." She addresses Kira with a grateful tone.

"It's ok." Kira simply said, a bit perplexed at who she is. The girl glances around until she notices the Alliance emblem present on Kira's uniform as well as on the surrounding party. She lets out a slight gasp as she comes to a realisation.

"Oh my!" She remarks, placing her hand on her cheek, "This isn't a ZAFT ship, is it?" She inquires, confusing the assembled crowd.

"Is that so?" Haro adds. Natarle smacks her hand against her face in exasperation.

"Pardon?" Murrue inquires with a confused tone as Kira can only shake his head at her to confirm the girl's suspicions.

* * *

**PLANTs…**

As this rather peculiar scene plays out on the Archangel, Athrun Zala is taking a much needed shower within the barracks of the Military Base located within the insides of Aprilius One. The stress from the recently occurred events flowing out of him.

While this occurs, several GINN's patrol outside and Miguel Aiman sits at the desk within his own quarters, using the computer located on the desk. He is going over the data that was collected on the Strike, trying to determine the best course of action when fighting the powerful Mobile Suit

As Athrun continues to shower, the quarter's communicator starts to sound off. Unfortunately, Athrun does not react to it immediately as he flashes back to the conversation he had with Patrick Zala on the shuttle and reminisces about his mother. Soon enough, he concedes and leaves the shower. He hastily dries himself off and slips on a Gown, the towel still wrapped around his neck. He reaches the communicator and answers, the image of a ZAFT Green female appearing on-screen.

"Athrun Zala here." He responds.

"ID Number 285002, Athrun Zala of the Le Creuset Team." She clarifies, "There's a message for you from Military Headquarters."

"Yes!" He responds swiftly.

"The Vesalius will be leaving 35 hours sooner than initially planned at 18:00 Hours tomorrow." She informs him, surprising the Coordinator, "Everyone is to arrive one hour before departure to board. Repeat what was said to acknowledge receipt of message."

"Vessalius will be leaving at 18:00 Hours tomorrow." He repeats, "Everyone is to arrive and board one hour before departure. Athrun Zala, acknowledged." He finalises before switching off the communicator device (Miguel has also just received a similar message). He starts to dry his hair again and turns on the Multimedia device planted on his desk. As the device comes on, a news report comes on-screen with an image of the Civilian ship Silverwind (the ship that was carrying Lacus Clyne).

"Miss Lacus Clyne, acting representative to this memorial, was also on the ship." An image of the pink-haired songstress appears on-screen, alerting Athrun. "Every effort is being made to confirm her safety." The news continues to scare Athrun as he lets out a gasp and moves closer to the screen, properly taking the news in. "I repeat, Observation Ship Silverwind, which was on its way to Junius Seven for preparations to send a group there for its first anniversary memorial service has been missing since last night." He concludes, causing Athrun to gasp.

"Lacus…?"

* * *

**Archangel…**

As the white battleship continues to fly through the debris belt and remains of Junius Seven, a large crowd of males gather outside of a door (Kira was not present as he has been given a very specific task to accomplish (as such, more Mistrals were dispatched to collect the ice as the Strike was not usable) and Cagalli was told to go wait at the Captain's Office for a meeting). Inside are the three main officers and their most recent visitor that was found inside a pod.

"Thank you very much for picking up the pod." This newest visitor compliments the officers, "My name is Lacus Clyne."

"Haro, Lacus, Haro!" The small robot in her hands chants.

"This is my friend, Haro." Lacus informs them.

"Haro, Haro. You too." The machine continues to chant, "Haro, Haro!" Murrue lets out a long sigh as the realisation of their newest development takes true foot inside her brain.

"Oh boy, Oh boy…" Mu mutters.

"What are they saying?" Tolle asks from outside the quarters, his ear pressed against the door.

"I can't hear!" Kuzzey remarks, "Shut up, Tolle!"

"Will you guys be quiet?" Sai scolds them. Unfortunately, they lose their wall to lean on as the door slides open to reveal a very displeased Natarle stood there, her hands on her hips.

"You guys haven't finished loading yet!" She remarks as they turn to quickly flee away in terror at the sight of the Alliance Officer. "Get back to work right now!"

"Clyne, is it?" Mu wonders knowingly as Natarle slides the door behind them, "You have the same name as the current Supreme Council Chairman, Siegel Clyne." Murrue lets out a nervous gasp.

"Why, Siegel Clyne is my father." Lacus replies with a cheerful tone, "Do you know him." She asks air-headedly as Mu simply face-palms hard at her obliviousness as Murrue leans into her chair and sighs heavily at the recent revelation.

"What's somebody like you doing all the way out here?" Murrue queries.

"I was here for a preliminary examination prior to a memorial visit to Junius Seven." Lacus explains, "Then my ship came across another ship belonging to the Earth Forces." She continues, "They said they only wanted to board for an official inspection, so I accepted. However, the purpose of our visit seemed to have upset members of the Earth Forces" She informs them, "This led to minor quarrels which soon ballooned into a major incident concerning the ship." Murrue narrows her eyes slightly, "The next thing I knew, people had forced me into the pod so I could escape."

"That's terrible." Murrue remarks with a sympathetic tone, a saddened look on her face is clear.

"And what happened to your ship?" Mu inquires.

"I don't know." Lacus responds, "I just hope that the people from the Earth Forces have calmed down since then."

* * *

**PLANTs…**

As this tense conversation occurs within the depths of the Debris Belt, a shuttle carrying Miguel and Athrun ferries them to the repaired Nazca-Class known as the Vesalius.

"The Vesalius will be taking off as scheduled." A voice calls over the docking area, "Crew members are to board promptly from Gate 12."

Athrun and Miguel exit an elevator into the Airlock area. Two Green Coats salute them, which they return back, as they move out of Elevator and down the corridor. Both of them notice that Rau Le Creuset and Patrick Zala are stood there. As they both float past the men, they both respectfully salute and are about to enter the ship when a voice calls out to the Red Coat.

"Athrun!" Patrick addresses his son sternly, causing them both to pause. Athrun looks back at Miguel who simply nods and continues down the corridor onto the Vesalius, leaving Athrun alone with Rau and Patrick. "I assume you've heard about Miss Lacus?"

"Yes." Athrun responds with a sombre tone, "However, Commander…" He turns to Rau, "You're not suggesting a rescue mission with the Vesalius, are you?"

"You're a cold man." Rau remarks playfully, "Of course we'll be searching for her."

"But we don't know if something has actually happened to her ship." Athrun protests, "And it's a Civilian Ship."

"Although not publicised, a Reconnaissance GINN from the Yun Law Team hasn't returned from a search." This detail elicits a gasp of surprise from Athrun.

"Junius Seven has been pulled by Earth's gravity and is now within the Debris Belt." Rau states, " Not an ideal location." He remarks, "Besides, the Gamow lost the Legged Ship at Artemis."

"Are you saying…?" Athrun trails.

"All the PLANTs are aware that you and Miss Lacus are destined to be together." Patrick remarks, "So the Le Creuset Team, which you're part of, can't exactly sit back and do nothing."

"Then…" Athrun trails, looking at Rau who sports a slight smile.

"She's an idol." Patrick declares, "We're counting on you Le Creuset, Athrun."

"Yes, sir!" Rau responds, saluting the Chairman along with Athrun. Soon enough, he drifts out of sight and Athrun addresses his superior.

"So I'm to save her and come back playing the part of the hero?" Athrun asks with a sarcastic tone.

"Or come back with her body and cry like crazy." Rau responds, surprising Athrun. "Whichever it is, Committee Chairman Zala believes that you're the one to go." He says with finality and enters the ship's airlock as Athrun narrows his eyes at them.

* * *

**Archangel…**

After amassing a sufficient amount of ice from the Debris Belt, the Archangel is finally leaving the debris belt and all of the terrible horrors that they witnessed there. Lacus Clyne has been "Requested" to stay within the confines of her quarters. Murrue can only watch as they leave the place with a relieved expression, along with Miriallia and Tolle.

Currently, Kira and Cagalli are on their way, together, to the Mess Hall to satisfy their first and hunger with some good food and fresh water. There is not much difference, however, if one looks, they can see that Cagalli has a small Data Disk around her neck, the storage device hanging loosely from chains. Where exactly did this device come from? Well, we must go back to some time prior…

* * *

**Flashback… 15 Minutes ago…**

After their rather revealing discussion with Lacus Clyne, the officers finally made their way to address another issue that they want resolving. The three of them arrived at the Captain's Office to see Cagalli waiting outside, an impatient look on her face as she leaned on the wall adjacent from the Office. Her face was a mixture of satisfaction and annoyance at the sight of them.

"You sure kept me waiting." She remarked. Natarle moved to scold her when Murrue put a hand up in front of her.

"Right, we're sorry." She responded, "There is something we would like to discuss with you." She remarks as the Captain opens the door and gestured inside, "Could we do it privately?"

"Sure." Cagalli responded and moved off of the wall. She walkde into the office and the officers quickly entered inside behind her. Murrue moved to sit at her chair while gesturing to the seat on the other side of the desk. Mu and Natarle moved to stand behind her.

"Please sit down." Murrue requested to which Cagalli responded by sitting firmly down in the chair. "I wish to discuss the incident with the Reconnaissance GINN with you." Cagalli let out an exasperated sigh.

"I saw a Mistral being shot at and Kira was nowhere in sight." Cagalli responded in a seemingly rehearsed tone, "I couldn't let them die so I went for it and managed to take it out."

"Something that you should pat yourself on the back for." Mu remarks.

"It was luck." Cagalli responded swiftly.

"Luck or not, it still says that you have some capabilities in a cockpit." Murrue assured her, "Which is why I would like to make a Proposal to you."

"Proposal?"

"Yes, I-" Before Murrue can respond, a knock at the door could be heard, "Come in!" She called out and the door slides open to reveal Kira stood there, a data disk in his hand.

"Ms. Murrue!" He addressed the captain, "I finished it!"

"Good, Kira." Murrue complimented the boy, "I was just about to tell her, so if you want to wait a second…"

"Tell me what?" Cagalli asked with an increasingly irritated tone.

"I would like you to be the Strike's backup pilot." She declared, causing Cagalli to go wide-eyed.

"Backup pilot?!" She asked incredulously. "Why the hell do you want me?! I'm still just a Natural and, last I checked, Naturals can barely move those things!" Cagalli countered.

"That's where Kira come in." Murrue glanced at the boy, "You can give it to her now." Kira walked over to Cagalli and raised the Data Disk at her.

"There is a patch on this Disk that makes a Mobile Suit's OS Natural Friendly." Kira explains, "All you have to do is insert this into the Mobile Suit's computer and it will install the patch. Once you remove the disk, the patch will delete itself. The disk itself is password-locked so not just anyone can use it." Kira then leaned onto Cagalli's ear, "The password is…" He said it so quiet so that the officers couldn't hear, which Murrue wanted as she even wanted to not know the password.

"Why not just put this patch on the Mobile Suit's OS itself?" Cagalli asked, her protesting tone disappearing.

"If we put a Natural-Friendly OS on the Strike, one of the other soldiers onboard may get cocky and attempt to take it and use it for themselves which could result in its destruction." Murrue explained for Kira, "This way, you can still do that, but not risk the Strike being used by somebody else with less noble intentions and potential"

"I see…" Cagalli trailed.

"This won't be made official." Murrue assured her, "You'll still work in the Maintenance Bay like normal and won't have this detail be made public. It's only in the case of severe emergencies so it's not like I'll be asking you to take his place every other sortie. You won't need any training as I understand that you know your way around a cockpit after the incident with the GINN Recon Type as well as your work in maintenance." Murrue listed out the details of the agreement, "Also, I have discussed this with Lieutenant La Flaga and Ensign Badgiruel and they agree with my assessment." She gestures behind her and Mu gives Cagalli a cheerful wave.

"Sometimes, the Kid may need a break." He remarks simply while Natarle just stands there with an expression that says that she's only tolerating this decision because the Captain authorised it.

"So, will you do it?" Murrue asks with a final tone.

Cagalli sits there for a few moments, looking at the ground, with a pensive expression before glancing at Kira who seems to encourage her to say yes, shaking the Disk at her ever so slightly. She turns to look back at the ground for a few more seconds before snatching the Disk out of Kira's hands and placing the device around her neck for safe keeping.

"Alright, alright!" She responded, "Jesus, if you keep looking at me with those pathetic eyes, you'll make me cry."

"Perfect." Murrue responded with a smile, "That's all for now so you can leave and rejoin your friends."

And with that, Cagalli and Kira departed from the room together to make their way to the Mess Hall.

* * *

**Current time…**

Kira and Cagalli are soon outside of the Mess Hall after the secretive meeting and are making casual conversation about the recent development. It was also during this time that Kira thought it appropriate to finally tell Cagalli about Athrun. While it surprised her at first, Cagalli understood that he doesn't fight against his best friend lightly and only does it out of necessity to protect the Archangel's crew and refugees. Suddenly, a heated tone alerts them.

"No way!" The familiar voice of Flay calls out, alerting the two.

"Flay!" A protesting Miriallia calls out.

"When I say 'no way', I mean 'no way'!" Flay responds with a stubborn tone.

"Why not?" Miriallia asks as Kira and Cagalli enter the dining room to see Kuzzey stood away from Miriallia and Flay who stand at the Mess Hall's counter.

"What's wrong?" Kira asks his friend.

"It's about that girl's meal." Kuzzey informs him, "Milly wants Flay to take to her, but Flay refuses. That's all they're quarrelling about."

"I'm not going to!" Flay declares with an adamant tone, "I'm too afraid to go near a Coordinator!" This declaration causes a sombre expression to pass over Kira's face while a masked anger over Cagalli's. Miriallia notices this.

"Flay!" She scolds her as Flay realises who they're in the company with.

"Of course, it's different with you, Kira! I know that much!" She assures them, "But that girl's with ZAFT, right?"

"Just because they live on the PLANTs doesn't mean they're ZAFT." Cagalli corrects her.

"But we don't know if she is or isn't!" Flay responds hotly, "Coordinators are not only smarter, but have better reflexes than us. What if she attacks me?" She turns to Kira, "Right?" Surprising Kira, he hesitates.

"Again, Coordinators aren't just altered to make them better killers as you seem to believe" Cagalli corrects her once again, coming to his aid. "Some are better cooks or teachers. Some are better at construction. They weren't made the way they were to undermine Naturals, just give them a more fulfilling life."

"She doesn't seem like the type to attack someone either." Kuzzey adds.

"You don't know that for sure!" Flay remarks, "You can't determine the capabilities of a Coordinator by looking at them."

"And how many Coordinators have you met?" Cagalli asks with a knowing tone.

"W-what?" Flay asks, seemingly offended.

"Well, you talk like you're some big expert on them." Cagalli remarks, "You must have met plenty in your time, right?" She asks with a sarcastic tone.

"And how many have YOU met?!" Flay responds heatedly, seemingly avoiding the question.

"I live on Onogoro Island where the Coordinator/ Natural Count is roughly 50/50 so take a guess." Cagalli responds smoothly. "Barely any are in ORB's Military either which is made up of mostly Naturals. They're just content with living peacefully like farmers."

"But we still don't know anything about her!" Flay declares with an angry tone.

"My, who is this 'her' you speak of?" A voice calls from the door, breaking the group out of their quarrel. They all turn to see the pink-haired Lacus Clyne stood there with her small robotic companion jumping ecstatically at the girl's side, making it's usual chants. The sight of the girl brings a mixed reaction from the group.

* * *

**Bridge…**

As this rather tense discussion occurs within the Mess Hall, another sort of tense discussion is about to take foot. Mu La Flaga has just entered the Bridge and has decided it's worth addressing their most recent problem/ development.

"Give me a break." Mu complains as he floats past Murrue, garnering her attention, "We just solved the Supply Problem and now a pink-haired Princess? There is no limit to the problems we face Ms. Captain." Mu says the last part with a playful tone, causing Murrue to let out a nervous sigh.

"I guess we have choice but to take the girl with us to Lunar Headquarters." She mutters.

"We don't have any more planned stops along the way, right?" Mu inquires.

"But if we took her to Military Headquarters, she'd…" Murrue trails knowingly, "Even though she's a civilian…"

"They'd greet her with open arms." Mu assures her, "She's Clyne's daughter, after all. There's many ways that she'll come in handy."

"I hope she doesn't go through any of that, if possible." Murrue remarks, "Not a little Civilian Girl like her…"

"If you're bringing that up, what about them?" Natarle interjects, alerting the Captain to her presence as she looks to the right to properly address the Ensign, "These guys, who have navigated the ship and fought with us in battle, are also young civilians."

"Ensign Badgiruel, that…" Murrue trails as the ones involved in this (Sai and Tolle) listen intently to what is being said.

"Though you couldn't help it, you involved Kira Yamato and the others in this war." Natarle continues undeterred, "But if I hear you correctly, you're now saying you don't want to involve that girl." A tense silence passes over the Bridge briefly before Natarle continues, "That girl is Clyne's daughter. That fact alone means that is not an ordinary civilian."

* * *

**Mess Hall…**

As tension increases on the bridge, tension is at an all-time high within the confines of the Mess Hall as Lacus has just entered the room.

"My, if I caused some sort of commotion, I apologise." Lacus addresses the group in an apologetic manner. "I was thirsty and, please don't laugh at me when I say this, but I am quite hungry as well." As she continues on, the group looks at her with a distressed expression. "Is this the dining room?"

"Thank you! Thank you!" He robot companion chanted from her side.

"I'd be very grateful if I could have a bite of something." She continues, making her way to the counter.

"Wait a minute!" Kira tries to prevent the girl from igniting an already explosive situation.

"Didn't they bother to lock her room?" Kuzzey mutters.

"This is nuts!" Flay mutters with a distressed tone, "Why is someone from ZAFT allowed to walk around from permission?"

"But I had no intention of going out without permission." Lacus counters, "So I called out from my room and said 'May I leave this room?' I asked three times." Lacus explains as Kuzzey lets out a confused gasp before the girl continues, "Besides, I don't belong to ZAFT. ZAFT is the name of the Military and stands for Zodiac Alliance of Freedom…"

"It makes no difference!" Flay interrupts her, "You're still a Coordinator!"

"It _is_ different." Lacus responds after a tense silence. "Yes, I am a Coordinator, but I don't belong to the military."

"THANK YOU!" Cagalli chips in, "That's the point I've been trying to make! Being a Coordinator doesn't automatically make you ZAFT!"

"You don't belong to the Military either, do you?" Lacus continues, "Then you and I are the same." She concludes before reaching her hand out for Flay to shake, "Excuse me for not introducing myself. My name is…"

"Hey, no, stop it!" Flay interrupts her again with a seemingly disgusted tone, surprising the surrounding group and further angering Cagalli. "You must be outta your mind! Why should I have to shake hands with you? I don't want any Coordinators like you being friendly with me!"

That statement causes a surprised gasp to resound throughout the group. There is an unbelievable silence that resounds throughout the room before-

**SLAP!**

The group goes wide eyed as Flay Allster collapses to the floor with an extremely angry Cagalli stood over here. Her left hand hovers in the air while Flay's cheek in now red as a tomato and she places her hand over it. Before the red-head can respond to this action, the blonde speaks.

"People like you make me sick!" She simply says before grabbing a tray of food and turning to Lacus. "This is what you came for, right? You'll have to eat it back in the Quarters unless you want guards to lock you in the brig."

"Of course. I never thought to overstep my boundaries." Lacus assures her, the two girls move to walk outside before Cagalli turned back towards him.

"You coming?" She asks. Kira turns to look at Flay who sits on the ground with a shocked expression before turning towards them and walking to meet them. The three of them depart from the Mess Hall together.

* * *

**Some time later…**

As Kira, Cagalli and Lacus make their way back to the latter's quarters. Kuzzey and Miriallia stayed in the Mess Hall with Flay who sat with a napkin, nursing her cheek. There was tense silence as Flay had an angered look on her face before Kuzzey spoke up.

"Flay, are you a member of Blue Cosmos?" Kuzzey asked with a concerned tone.

"No, I'm not!" She denies hotly, receiving a sigh of relief from Miriallia as her reward. "But what those people are saying isn't wrong, is it?" At that moment, the trio reached Lacus' quarters and enter, "People who have their genes manipulated, even if their not sick or anything are a mistaken existence that opposes nature's providence." She says, almost rehearsing some form of propaganda. "The truth is you all agree with me, right?" A guilty look passes over the two of them before Miriallia speaks up.

"But I can't help but agree with the things Cagalli says as well." She counters, "In the end, they're still humans like us. Their parents just wanted good lives for them."

"Are you kidding?!" Flay responds hotly, "That girl slapped me!"

"Only because you said something incredibly cruel towards Coordinators." Kuzzey counters.

"That just makes her some ZAFT sympathiser then!" Flay reasons to which Miriallia shakes her head.

"People raised in ORB, Flay," Miriallia begins to explain, "They believe in peace between Naturals and Coordinators. It's their number one principle. You saying what you did insulted that and, in some ways, insulted Cagalli's homeland. Kira was right there, in case you forgot, and he means a lot to Cagalli so, in some ways, you insulted Kira and herself with your comment." Flay's eyes widen at this.

"I-I see…" She trails.

"Just watch what you say around Cagalli." Kuzzey warns her, "She would probably willingly get along with you as she's open-minded about people and their views. You just need to be less vocal about your attitude towards Coordinators and watch what you say around her, alright?"

"I'll try." She simply responds.

"Try and remember that, if Kira wasn't a Coordinator, we'd probably all be dead." Kuzzey concluded with a final tone and getting out of his chair to leave, leaving Miriallia and Flay alone.

As this conversation occurred, another was being instigated in Lacus' quarters.

"Must I stay here again?" Lacus asks Kira and Cagalli.

"Yes, you should." He responds.

"That's no fun." Lacus remarks, "I'm all alone here and I'd prefer to enjoy my meal there and talk to everybody."

"Good afternoon!" Haro chants.

"This is still an Earth Alliance Military Ship and, civilian or not, a girl from the PLANTs onboard makes people tense." Cagalli explains. "What with a war occurring between the PLANT's Military and Earth Forces after all."

"That's a shame." Lacus remarks, "But you're both very kind. Thank you."

"I-I'm also a Coordinator." Kira informs her.

"You too!" Haro chants.

"I'm not, though." Cagalli adds which makes Lacus shake her head.

"That's a good thing. You, a Natural, came to my aid despite the war going on."

"It was how I was raised to think, alright?" Cagalli explains.

"Still, I hope more people will take the attitude that you two share." Lacus remarks, "Will you tell me your names?"

"Kira Yamato."

"Cagalli."

"Thank you, Mr. Kira. Ms. Cagalli." Lacus said with a final smile.

As the conversation continued, Romero was working on his console, while drinking a Liquid Supplement, when a file appeared on his screen, all of a sudden. He quickly went to work deciphering the message.

"Captain!" He called out, alerting the woman as she swivelled her chair around to properly address him.

At the same time, roughly, Miriallia had finally decided to leave the awkward atmosphere of the Mess Hall, and Flay, who sported a stubborn expression (along with a slightly swollen cheek), alone. Tolle, coincidentally, had just arrived there and floated over to his Love Interest. Miriallia, nervously looking around, grabbed the boy and pulled him over to one side to discuss what had just recently happened and the most recent revelation surrounding Flay.

"Are you sure?" Murrue queried Romero.

"There's no mistaking it!" Romero assures her, "This is a code pulse from the Earth Forces' 8th Fleet!" He confirmed as Natarle drifted up from the CIC to join them.

"Can you decode it?" She asks with a hopeful tone.

"I'm doing that!" He responds as he attempts to decrypt the message. It starts out as being only audible static as he tries varying methods to decrypt it which causes the static to become disjointed, "I'm analysing it!"

"This is… 8th Fleet Advanced… Montgomery, Arch… Angel, reply." A extremely garbled voice calls through the Communicator. This garbled voice, however, fills the surrounding people with a sense of hope.

"It's a force under Admiral Halberton's command!" Murrue informs the surrounding people with a relieved tone. The bridge crew let out varying sounds indicating delight with even Natarle managing a slightly relieved smile at the news.

"Are they looking for us?" Arnold asks with a hopeful tone, getting out of his seat to come investigate.

"What's their position?" Dalida asks out loud, coming out of CIC to join the group along with Jackie.

"Is that Koopman's unit?" Jackie also asks.

"Wait a minute!" Daldia continues.

"Great!" Arnold mutters as he and Jackie high-five each other in the air.

"Wait a minute, I believe they're still a significant distance from us." Romero explains with a somewhat disappointed tone.

"But if we could join them…" Jackie wonders.

"Yeah!" Arnold agrees, "Finally, something we can be relieved about!"

The three bridge crewmen (Jackie, Arnold, Dalida) all share a joyous laugh at their recent good news as Murrue even gives a small smile to herself, believing that things are finally looking up for them.

As this good news is joyfully indulged by the Bridge Crew. Kira and Cagalli now decide to leave Lacus to their devices and go on with their own business. They both walk out of the Quarters, Kira first and then Cagalli, when a voice calls out to them. They both look to see Sai approaching as the door closes behind the two of them.

"I heard from Miri" Sai informs his friend, causing Kira's expression to turn sombre. "Don't let it bother you." Sai comforts his friend while Cagalli simply hovers there, waiting to see what his intentions are. She gets her answer when Sai places a hand on Kira's shoulder to signify this, "I'll talk to Flay later."

All of a sudden, a singing voice starts to become audible as the three of them look towards whose quarters they are stood outside. Their suspicions are confirmed as the voice comes from the room, meaning it is Lacus. As she sings, smiles are brought to the three of their faces as Kira and Cagalli reminisce about the conversation which they shared with her.

"Is it _that_ girl singing?" Sai asks Kira, breaking the two out of their memories. "What a beautiful voice. But I can't help but wonder if that voice is a result of fiddling with her genes." Sai remarks as moves down the corridor, causing a surprised gasp from Kira and a frown from Cagalli. "Shall we go? You two need to eat as well." He says before taking off down the corridor. Instead of remarking over what was just said, the two of them simply follow after the bespectacled male.

* * *

**Vesalius…**

As the ship continued its journey to reunite with the Gamow and pursue the now-named Legged Ship (along with saving a certain pink-haired songstress), a small detour has caught their attention that Rau decides that he needs some clarification over.

"What's the matter?" He asks Ades, drifting to the right of the man sat in the captain's chair.

"They're assumed to be naval vessels of the Earth Forces." Ades informs his cohort, gesturing to the bridge's view-screen that shows the large number. "What are they doing out here?" Ades wonders out loud. Rau hovers there for a few seconds silently before turning to regard the console in the centre of the bridge.

"If the Legged Ship were planning to go from Artemis to the Earth Forces' Lunar Headquarters, what would they do?" Rau asks hypothetically as Ades joins him next to the console.

"Then those naval vessels are out there to provide supplies or maybe greet them?" Ades theorises.

"They haven't caught on to our position, have they?" Rau asks rhetorically, "Don't lose sight of them. Follow them carefully." He instructs his cohort.

"We're following them? But…" Ades protests.

"Of course, we'll also be continuing our search for Lacus Clyne." Rau assures him, "But at the same time, we can't overlook this because of one little girl. I'd hate to be laughed at by historians of future generations."

As this conversation occurs, Miguel Aiman and Athrun Zala both hover in the room overlooking the Vesalius' Hangar Bay. The powered-down Aegis occupies one berth while two standard GINN occupy another across from it and Miguel's Custom GINN stands on the other side. There is a tense silence between the two as they simply watch the Mobile Suits, thinking about their soon-to-occur skirmish before Miguel speaks up.

"So, Athrun…" He addresses the Red-Coat, alerting Athrun who turns to look at him, "Are you ready?"

"Yes." Athrun simply responds, still deep in thought.

"I mean are your ready to do what you must?" Miguel clarifies, surprising Athrun a little. The Red-Coat looks at his mentor figure for a few seconds as Miguel's eyes simply looking at him, not turning his head from looking at the Mobile Suit bay.

"Yes." Athrun responds again. Miguel's eyes turn back to the Mobile Suits along with Athrun as Miguel adopts a little smile.

"That's good."

* * *

**Archangel…**

The battleship's engines roar into life, speeding up the ship even further as the prospect of being united with more forces greatly appeals to all on-board.

"Direction 45, mark 10, Alpha." Romero calls out, "Route change completed. Engines at 60%"

The Civilians were all gathered in the Mess Hall as the recent news of soon linking up with reinforcements fills them with a sense of great hope.

"There's nothing to worry about." A random civilian male said.

"I wonder how long before we join them?" Another wondered.

"I'm sick and tired of this ship." An older woman complained.

Flay and Sai were also present within the Mess Hall as Flay just received news that greatly pleases her.

"What? Papa is…?" She asks with a joyful tone.

"Yes! He's here with the advance force greeting us." He clarifies for her.

"Really?" Flay responds with a relieved tone.

"I'm sure he had no idea that you're onboard, Flay, but we just forwarded our crew list to them." Sai informs her, a joyous expression crossing her face.

"Papa's coming?" She asks rhetorically, "I'm so glad…"

"Great news, huh?" Sai mutters.

Elsewhere, after a fulfilling meal, Kira and Cagalli arrived back at the Hangar to inspect the Strike.

"Sorry we're late." Kira apologises for the two of them to Murdoch.

"Oh, right." Murdoch responds, "I made changes to the standing geometry offset values. I want you to check it over while you, little girl, can check that all the hydraulics are still working fine.

"Right." They both reply.

"Although you may never use this guy again." Murdoch informs Kira. "Shame about the GINN as well. 8th Fleet will probably want it scrapped and we never got any use out of the damn thing. And right after we got a weapon with some ammo for it, as well!"

Both Kira and Cagalli look towards the Strike with a somewhat relieved expression. Kira thinking that being able to take a nice long break is a good thing while Cagalli is just happy that Kira will finally have some stress and pressure taken off of him.

Elsewhere, a pink-haired princess sat in her quarters, idly playing with her robotic companion.

"Haro. Are you okay?" The robot chants.

"Here's a question, where are we currently headed." Lacus asks out loud. Haro rolls around the desk they're sat at as a result to which Lacus giggles.

Throughout the ship, this news has catapulted the crew's morale to an all-time high. Little do they know that it would all soon go away.

* * *

_**God, this chapter was soul destroying to write. What the hell's the matter with Morosawa and writing all this crap with Lacus?! Having Cagalli defend her killed me inside, but, given the circumstances, it seemed logical. I mean, it's not like she'd take Flay's side on the matter and she was less defending Lacus and more defending Kira.**_

_**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. If it seems poorer quality compared to my others, it's because my soul felt like it was being progressively torn apart as I wrote this chapter. Luckily, I only have to put up with Lacus for two more chapters before she goes away for a while.**_

_**Next chapter I look forward to writing. I mean, it's a battle so that'll be fun to write. That, and Miguel's GINN will make its debut.**_

_**R-0 Out!**_


	9. Chapter 9: To Fight A Brother And An Ace

_**Hello everyone, R-0 here and welcoming to the next chapter of my Fanfiction. This is a chapter that I have been looking forward to. After all, writing battle scenes is miles more enjoyable than just scenes with dialogue.**_

_**Anyway, onto the R&A section!**_

_**edboy4926: I'd go over to ZAFT any day. Not only would I get to live on a Colony and some luxurious Battleships, I'd also get wear a sweet-ass uniform and Mobile Suits that are much more interesting the Earth Force's Mobile Suits. Also, I'd be more inclined to be on the side that ISN'T trying to completely wipe out a race of Human Beings because they're butthurt over having inferior genes (Now that I say that, I think Liquid Snake would love the Earth Forces) so they spread lies and propoganda over a race who just wanted to live peacefully. Also, trying to affect change from within the Earth Force's infrastructure would be next to impossible as you'd have to systematically kill off all of the Admiralty (who are mostly racist douchebags save for one or two guys like Halberton), find a different source for funding the Earth Forces Army aside from Blue Cosmos and LOGOs so that ZAFT just doesn't trample over you once you manage to fix the Earth Forces and still have to convince an entire army to let go of their prejudices that they've had for god knows how long. That's a pretty tall order.**_

_**Don 77: Usually when people say "Meant to be", they usually mean "It's canon! Why shouldn't we support it?!" I'm not really a fan of three-way pairings and am relatively big on the idea of monogamy (a bit contradictory as I love harems to death (why would I write a fanfic about them if I didn't?)) so that whole idea doesn't really appeal to me. Regarding Miriallia, I'd only be able to see that work if you based it in Destiny or somehow wrote around Dearka being on the Archangel after Tolle's death, but I do think it's a plausible pairing (then again, I'm a guy who'll go for any sort of weird and wonderful pairing).**_

_**Royal Dragoon: I am happy that you apologised. Other people may have just told me to F Off and called me an asshole or something like that. Thank you for apologising and accepting the error you made. I was worried that I was coming off as a bit of a douchebag and being a bit arrogant with my statement. I'll say sorry for being a bit douchey with telling you.**_

_**worldwanderer2.0: Well, I figured that you would greatly enjoy Cagalli verbally (and physically) own the living crap out of Flay. I'm not as bothered about her Father simply because of how little we thought of him. But yes, given her mindset, he was probably a very bad influence on her (What, with him being Blue Cosmos and everything).**_

_**I think people side with her because they seem to have this misconception that, had her father not died, she would have been the nicest character in the series and not what she became. Ultimately, I disagree with this idea as she was shown to be just as bad before the incident with her father, it simply as a trigger for her racist tendencies and manipulative nature to become further aggravated. It may also be a case, for some people, of "anything's better than Lacus," and they just feel like Flay is just the better of the two.**_

_**You pretty much share my thoughts on the matter regarding Space VS Earth Forces. Yes, the Space Forces do resort to extreme measures, but it was only ever because the Earth Forces forced them into a corner, causing them to resort to such extreme methods. Ultimately, the Earth Forces have always been the aggressor and I don't understand how people would prefer to side with them. At least the Zabi Family weren't ever out to line their own pockets or indulge in over-inflated egos. At least ZAFT just wanted to be left alone by the Earth Forces, however, them being constantly harassed caused them to hate the Earth Forces as much. It's an interesting idea for a Gundam Series. For once, let the Earth Forces be the initial victims and the Space Forces the aggressors.**_

_**Azure (Guest): Thank you for taking an interest in my story. I don't think this is a particularly high-tier Fanfic (If you want to see a better one, look at ExArchMagus' works), what with my somewhat basic descriptive skills and fairly fast conversations (I'm not really good at writing dialogue) but I do try my best. Unfortunately, I am not taking requests nor suggestions for this Fanfic due to it following canon closely (for a while). Also, I am not a particular fan of implementing OC Mecha. Sometimes, it works and I'm fine with it (Again, refer to ExArchMagus' work), but it's something that I don't really like doing it myself unless I REALLY must.**_

_**RandyKaguyaofthewasteland: Your welcome, I am glad that you found a story out of mine that fails a desire you had to see be put on paper. As I have said before, don't credit me too much up to this point as it is mostly following the original script save for some new scenes and interactions (which I can only assume is what you're talking about). As I said, this story is less focused on just KiraXCagalli and simply what her earlier presence would have perhaps influenced were she forced onto the Archangel at an earlier time so that's why probably why I'm not just cramming it full of KiraXCagalli and forgetting about everything else involved. Won't spoil much, but you will Natarle speak up eventually. As you said, this does follow canon fairly closely and I already have it mapped out the direction I want to go with it. Kick Dearka's ass? Why just his ass specifically and not the rest of the Le Creuset Team? Do you not like him? If you ask me, all of the Le Creuset Team are all alright guys, even Athrun (Well, BEFORE SEED Destiny).**_

_**Fireminer: Well, at least it's above five.**_

_**I would agree with that sentiment and say that UC Haro is the smartest. It seems capable of rational thought and understanding situations and not just chanting inappropriate lines repeatedly in a vain attempt to be a cute mascot. Though AD Haros easily own the hell out of both of them in terms of intelligence.**_

_**I wouldn't consider Kira to be a long-range fighter. He's more of a jack-of-all-trades sort of pilot and seems just skilled in all fields rather than one. Cagalli is the same except on a much lower-tier. I'd agree that Athrun's melee.**_

_**Zombyra: I genuinely wouldn't care. Crossovers have NEVER appealed to me and never will. It would probably have a retarded half-assed plot and be completely fanservice driven. So I really wouldn't be interested.**_

_**No Account Yet (Guest): Gonna quell your hopes right now. There is a chance that I may not include any form of sex in this Fanfic. This doesn't mean I absolutely won't, but I haven't come to a decision.**_

_**Plutone-pilot: I am happy to see that you have taken an interest in my Fanfic. I guess that people like to hope that, whenever someone does something involving a canon retelling, they hope that Flay will be made to look better. As I explained, what happened with Flay wasn't what happened with Cagalli. The direction her character took was intentional and interesting. As I said before, people seem to have the misconception that, had her father lived, she would have been one of the nicest characters in the series (as seen with a few fanfics). You'll see what comes after that refugee incident.**_

_**thedarkpokemaster: Well, it's good that you enjoy writing fanfics that portray her in a negative manner and not as a flawless goddess.**_

_**Anyway, time for the chapter!**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED nor its respective materials.**_

* * *

Chapter 9: To Fight A Brother And An Ace

Miriallia is currently on her way to the bathroom, humming merrily as she does so, in order to freshen up after working and in preparation for the upcoming meeting with the Advance Force from the Eighth Fleet. On the way, she passes by the Mess Hall that is being occupied by the Archangel's large number of refugees. The atmosphere among these people seems to be positive, which is a godsend in comparison to the sombre mood that they have had up to this point. Clearly, the news that they would be encountering allies soon is something that has greatly lifted their spirits. As Miriallia walks past the refugees, she listens and hears some of their conversations.

"You think it'll be the moon first, once we join them?" One man randomly asks.

"I have relatives living in ORB, so I should be okay." Another remarked.

"If I could at least get in touch with my wife and children…" Was the last comment Miriallia heard before moving on past the facility.

Eventually, she arrived at the Bathroom and made her way inside. Rather absentmindedly, she failed to notice the red-haired female stood at the mirror clad in nothing but her pink underwear with her hair tied up with clips.. The female turned herself, with a confused expression, to look at Miriallia who was greeted to the sight of the girl's face being encased in a white gelatine substance, surprising Miriallia who let out a loud gasp.

"What is it?" Flay asked with an annoyed tone, looking back away from Miriallia.

"What do you mean, Flay?" Miriallia asked with a confused tone, "What ARE you doing?"

"It's a face pack." Flay explains with an informed tone, carefully peeling the mask off and scrunching it up in her hands. "Can't you tell?" She asks as she looks in the mirror and appreciates her handiwork.

"Of course I can tell." Miriallia assures her, "What I'm saying is…" Miriallia lets out a sigh as Flay doesn't seem to listen, instead still admiring her handiword, "Never mind." She remarks, "I'm surprised that you had something like that with you."

"Well, because Papa's coming with the Advance Forces, I want to look my best." Flay explains with a joyous tone as Miriallia starts to remove her own clothes, "My papa wouldn't want me looking shabby as the daughter of a vice minister of the Atlantic Federation." Flay remarks further as Miriallia continues to remove articles of clothing, "I haven't seen him in such a long time, after all. It's the least I can do."

"Whatever…" Miriallia answers with a disinterested tone as she fully strips off and enters the shower, turning the machine.

"I wish I could do something about my hair." Flay groans, running her hand through her hair thoughtfully, "Well, I guess this'll have to do. We're in a crisis, after all."

* * *

**Bridge…**

"Arrival time at the rendezvous point with our fleet will be as planned." The commander of the Advance Forces informs the Archangel bridge crew over the Communicator, Murrue taking the information in while drinking a nutritional supplement, "Once you join us, the Archangel will come under command of this ship and we'll proceed to the main fleet together." He concludes, "You're almost here. I pray for your safe arrival." The screen then enlarges from the commander's face to accommodate the man sat in the chair next to him. Unlike the commander, this man did not wear a Federation uniform and instead a typical suit and tie.

"I'm Vice Minister George Allster of the Atlantic Federation." The man informs them, "First, I'd like to thank you for your efforts in rescuing civilians." The familiar name and voice causes Sai (Who was currently working in the CIC) to smile. "Oh, and another thing! I was surprised and happy to see the name of my daughter, Flay, on the name of rescued civilians." The name causes Murrue to let out a quiet gasp while other members just have slightly surprised expressions, "I'd be more than grateful if I could get a glimpse of her." He asks hopefully.

"Vice Minister, sir, you'll see her as soon as they join us." The commander assures him.

"That's Flay's father, alright." Sai remarks with a small smile. Natarle lets out a confused gasp at that.

* * *

**Hangar…**

Kira is sat in the cockpit of the Strike rigorously typing commands into the Computer, his eyes quickly glancing over the screen as he continues on with his work. Cagalli is hovering outside of the cockpit with a nutritional supplement that she was drinking, seeming to content to just hover there and relax. Murdoch soon arrives and drifts on over to the cockpit with a curious expression. He leans into the cockpit and presses his hand against the frame. Kira stops what he is doing and moves the Terminal away from him and puts the console back up in the head area while the keyboard stays on his lap.

"What is it?" Kira asks Murdoch.

"Nothing, just wondering how it is." Murdoch assures him.

"Well, we just checked to see that all the hydraulics still work fine." Cagalli interjects.

"And I have just been making a few adjustments to match the offset levels." He explains before making a slight gasp, "But I guess it's unnecessary…" Kira mutters before Murdoch lets out a raucous laugh, surprising Kira and Cagalli.

"Go ahead and do what's needed." Murdoch assures him, placing a hand on Kira's left shoulder, "It's still your job until we safely join the others." Murdoch continues before removing himself from the cockpit after patting Kira's shoulder, "If you want, you're free to volunteer to remain in the military." That last statement causing the two teenagers to gasp a little as the older man drifts away.

"No chance in hell." Kira mutters to himself as quickly goes back to work.

"Kira…" Cagalli mutters with a sombre tone.

As this occurs, other events occur throughout the ship. Sai and Miriallia switch places on the bridge (the latter taking over for the former). Mu peacefully asleep in a sleeping bag drifting around. Lacus singing and reminiscing about her time spent on the Archangel. Kira continuing his work on the Strike's OS as well as it's HUD while Cagalli just stays there in the cockpit to keep him company.

All the while, the Archangel continues on its journey to meet the Advance Fleet.

* * *

**Vesalius…**

As hope is high on the Archangel and their prospect of finally having some help is fuelling them with positive emotion, a meeting is being held on the bridge of the Nazca-Class Vesalius. There are six figures stood at the main console on the bridge. Miguel and Athrun (along with the two of the three GINN pilots onboard) stand on one side, Rau Le Creuset stands on the side opposite to them and Fredrik Ades stands at a side in between them.

"This is the estimated route of the Earth Forces' Naval vessels." Ades explains to the assembled pilots.

"The Laconi and Porto teams are behind schedule." Rau adds, "If those vessels are delivering supplies to the Legged Ship, we mustn't overlook them."

"What sort of strength do you think they have, sir?" Miguel asks with a curious tone.

"From what we can see, it is assumed that they have at least a single Nelson-Class and at least two Drake-Class ships." Rau informs him, "Along with a probable chance that they'll have Mobile Armours onboard."

"That's not too bad, sir." Miguel remarks with a cocky grin. "Four Mobile Suits should be able to take care of that no problem.

"Regardless, it would be wise to dispatch as many of these as possible BEFORE the Legged Ship arrives." Rau explains.

"Are we gonna stage an attack?" Athrun asks rhetorically, "But we're ordered to…"

"We're soldiers, Athrun." Rau simply responds, "Even though we were given orders to search for Miss Lacus."

* * *

**Archangel…**

Romero is the now bearer of good news as his radar picks up three signatures, all of which are recognised Federation ships (Montgomery, Bernard, Law).

"Silhouettes of three ships appearing on the radar!" Romero informs the bridge crew, "They're the escort ships Montgomery, Bernard and Law!"

The news brings great joy to the bridge crew as they all let out joyous cries and laughter. Even Natarle shows how happy she is as a small smile graces her features. Murrue lets out a slight sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, this glee was short lived as Romero's radar changed and informed of radar jamming in the area and the interference that it is causing to the ship's radar.

"What's this?" Romero mutters to himself, alerting Murrue.

"What's the matter?" She asks with a concerned tone.

"A jammer!" He declares, "It's interfering with the whole area!" The declaration causes all of the crew on the bridge to let out a gasp.

* * *

**Vesalius…**

Two of the three standard GINNs have already launched from the Nazca-Class (Both armed with Recoiless Rifles) and the final (Also equipped with a Recoiless Rifle) is preparing to sortie. Miguel and Athrun are only just booting up their respective Mobile Suits.

"The commander really has a knack for sensing these things." One of the GINN pilots remarks.

"Athrun!" One addresses the Red Coat, "Show us how that thing performs!"

"Right…" Athrun mutters as the final GINN takes off. Miguel's GINN's docking clamps are released as Athrun reminisces about his encounters with Kira and the words given to him by his father and Rau Le Creuset.

"Athrun," Miguel addresses him, "If the Strike turns up, we'll take him on together, alright? The other guys can handle the battleships and Mobile Armours."

"Roger." Athrun responds as Miguel positions his GINN to take off as the sign reads "LAUNCH."

"Miguel Aiman, GINN, taking off!" Miguel declares as his GINN zooms out of the Nazca-Class, detaching its Power Cable as it goes. Athrun quickly positions himself to sortie as the sign reads "LAUNCH" again.

"Athrun Zala, launching!"

The Aegis flies out of the hangar like a bullet and detaches its Power Cable and ignites its Phase Shift Armour. The two Mobile Suits fly together to join the three other GINNs.

* * *

**Montgomery…**

Alert screens flash all across the Nelson-Class' bridge as a state of panic ensues as the small Advance Fleet realises that they're under attack.

"Hurry and send our Mobile Armours!" The commander orders, "Load all missiles and Anti-Beam Depth Tubes!"

As he relays that order, the ships all deploy their small platoon of Moebius Mobile Armours to defend the Advance Force ships and the VIP they have on-board.

"Heat sources approaching!" The Montgomery's radar operator informs the Captain, "Five Mobile Suits!" The Captain grits his teeth at that.

"What's going on?!" George complains with a distressed tone, getting out of chair "How could you have not noticed the enemy until now?!"

"Lower bow, pitch angle 20 degrees!" The Captain orders the Helmsman, "Turn to port, yaw angle 20 degrees!" Resounding vibrations can be heard through the ship as George falls on the Captain who quickly shoos him away, "Send a message to the Archangel to turn around and withdraw!"

"What?!" George exclaims, "But then…"

"What else are we going to do in this situation?!" The Captain asks rhetorically.

"There's no meaning in my coming all the way here unless we meet them!" He protests.

"If that ship is sunk, there's even less meaning to our actions!"

As that conversation occurs, the Mobile Suits make contact with the Mobile Armours and battle ensues.

* * *

**Archangel…**

Dalida, manning one of the CIC consoles, manages to make out what's happening ahead as numerous explosions are visible on his console from the battle ahead of them.

"The heat distribution we're detecting ahead looks like that of a battle!" Dalida informs the bridge crew, "It appears to involve the Advance Force!" That piece of information causes Murrue and Natarle to gasp.

"A battle?" Sai wonders with a confused tone.

"A message from the Montgomery!" Romero calls out, "Message reads 'Cancelling rendezvous! The Archangel is to turn around and leave!"

"Captain!" Natarle addresses her.

"What is the enemy's fighting strength?" Murrue queries.

"A Nazca-Class at Yellow 257, Mark 402!" Jackie calls out, "Matching heat characteristics! Four GINNs!" He informs the captain, "And wait a moment… It's the Aegis! X-303, Aegis!" That news causes the whole bridge crew to gasp in realisation.

"Then it must be THAT Nazca-Class!" Murrue speaks their mind.

* * *

**Battle…**

An unfortunate Moebius Pilot makes the error of attempting to attack the Aegis. The superior Mobile Suit easily avoids the oncoming barrage of bullet and dispatches the Missiles with its CIWS.

Before the pilot can react, a barrage of bullets strikes his Moebius from behind as Miguel's GINN flies past Athrun's Aegis at significant speed.

Athrun then provides assistance to one of the other GINNs and dispatches the three Moebius that were chasing after the Mobile Suit.

Miguel also joins the fray as a couple of Moebius chase him and his GINN. Thinking they have the upper hand, they ignite their boosters and go in for a closer kill and let off a blast from their Linear Gun and a missile volley. Miguel turns his GINN around and the blasts connect, causing an explosion to occur. The two pilots let out a whoop of joy at their kill when, all of a sudden, a burst of bullets tears through one of the Moebius Armours while the other sees a Heavy Sword fly through the smoke and impale his machine, casing it to explode. The smoke clears to reveal Miguel's GINN hovering there undamaged as its shield hovers next to it, a few small dents on it from the damage and it carries its Heavy Sword and Heavy Machine Gun in both hands. Miguel mounts the sword back on his left skirt and grabs the shield before flying away.

* * *

**Archangel…**

"Captain!" Natarle addresses Murrue, demanding an answer.

"But, on that ship…" Tolle trails, reminding the crew of the individual still on the Montgomery.

"There's no guarantee we'd get away, even if we turn around!" Murrue rationalises after a brief pause, "All hands, Level One Battlestations! The Archangel will proceed to reinforce the Advance Force!"

"_All hands, Level One Battlestations!_" The intercom calls throughout the ship, alerting the various crew members and refugees, "I repeat, all hands, level-one battlestations!" The intercom calls again as Kira runs out of his quarters, meets with Cagalli (Her quarters are opposite) and runs to the hangar. As they run past it, Lacus' Quarters open and the familiar Haro and songstress peek their heads out in curiosity.

"Hello, Hello." Haro chants, the voice alerting the two.

"Again?!" Kira remarks, running back to her quarters while Cagalli waits.

"What is it?" Lacus asks absent-mindedly, "Things are suddenly lively around here."

"We're at battlestations." Kira informs, "Now go back inside!" He commands, shoving her back in, "What's the matter with the lock on this door?" He wonders.

"Haro, Haro!" The robot chants from his left, "I won't accept that! I won't accept that!"

"Battlestations?" Lacus asks, "My, are you entering a battle?"

"That's right." Kira responds, "Or rather, we're already in one."

"Which is why our only Mobile Suit pilot needs to get out there and do his job!" Cagalli scolds Kira, grabbing by the ear, "And you need to stay in your quarters if you don't want to cause us any trouble!" Cagalli addresses Lacus before dragging Kira away, leaving her and Haro alone. The robot bounces a few more times before Lacus catches and looks at the machine.

"Shall we sing, Haro?"

"No problem! No problem!"

And with that, Lacus walks back into her quarters, singing as she went.

"Kira!" A voice alerts Kira and Cagalli as they continue on their way to the hangar (After Kira managed to convince her to let go of his ear), causing them to stop and look. They see a distressed Flay walk up to them.

"What's this about Battlestations?" She asks with a worried tone, "What about the Advance Force?"

"I have no idea!" He responds, "I don't know what's going on!" He turns to leave before Flay stops him.

"It's going to be okay, right?" Flay asks hopefully, "My papa's ship won't be destroyed will it? Will it?"

"Don't worry, Flay." Kira assures her, "We'll be there, too."

And with that, they both took off again to get to the Hangar.

* * *

**Battle…**

One of the GINNs evade a barrage of bullets coming from its right as a Moebius flies straight past it. It then performs a flip as a Moebius attacks it from the front and the Mobile Armour flies past it, also. Unfortunately, for this Moebius, the GINN lets off a rocket from its Recoiless Rifle and the round hits the machine from behind, causing it to explode.

A small squad of Moebius attack another one of the GINNs, letting off a barrage of bullets and blasts from their Linear Guns. The GINN retaliates and blows one of the Moebius away with its Recoiless Rifle. This causes the others to veer off as the Aegis and Miguel's GINN break through. Both Mobile Suits head towards the Drake-Class named Bernard.

The Aegis quickly flies behind the ship and attacks its engines, opening fire with it Beam Rifle. The engines explode while Miguel, for good measure, lands on the hull of the ship directly in front of the bridge. The bridge crew cry in terror at the sight as Miguel raises his GINN's weapon and tears into the structure with his Heavy Machine Gun before boosting away as the ship explodes. He and Athrun (Who transforms the Aegis into its Mobile Armour form) fly directly towards the other Drake-Class, dodging random blasts and bullets as they go.

"The Escort Ship Bernard has been sunk!" One of the Bridge Crew informs the Montgomery's captain. "X-303 Aegis and one of the GINNs is heading for the Law!" That news causes the Captain to grind his teeth in concern.

"We're being destroyed by one of our own stolen machines?!" George remarks, "That's insane!"

* * *

**Archangel…**

As this pandemonium on the battlefield violently continues, Mu La Flaga in his Moebius Zero has just docked with the Launch Catapult and is ready to take off.

"Moebius Zero, La Flaga unit, please proceed to the Linear Catapult!" Miriallia calls over the intercom. The Mobile Armour is manoeuvred into position as the Bay doors close behind it and the heat rises from behind it. The Hangar doors open the Catapult expands in ready for the Mobile Armour's take-off. The Mobile Armour is released from its clamp once the sign reads "CLEAR" and Mu flies the Mobile Armour out of the Catapult.

At that moment, Kira arrives at the Strike himself (Cagalli had gone on ahead while Kira put on his pilot suit), much to the relief of Murdoch.

"You're late, kid!" He scolds Kira.

"I'm sorry!" Kira apologises as he clambers into the cockpit, shutting the hatch as he goes. Miriallia appears on his com-link to give him an overview of the situation.

"The enemy consists of a Nazca-Class, Four GINNs and the Aegis." Miriallia informs Kira as he applies his restraints, "Be careful, the comm chatter says that one of the GINNs is faster than the normal ones and has a special colour scheme." That causes Kira to raise an eyebrow.

"A customised GINN?" He mutters to himself.

Soon enough, the Strike is ferried onto the launch catapult by its berth, in preparation for take-off and equipping a pack, before Sai also appears onscreen.

"Kira!" Sai addresses his friend, "Flay's father is also with the Advance Force. Please keep that in mind."

"Got it." Kira responds as he closes the visor on his helmet. His Mobile Suit is released from its berth and placed in the Launch Catapult.

"Connected to Catapult." Miriallia confirms, "Aile Striker, stand by." The loading arms them come forward and attach the Strike's shield, Beam Rifle and Thruster Pack, "Systems, all green!" She confirms, "Course clear. Go ahead, Strike."

At that command, the sign reads "CLEAR" three times and the Mobile Suit takes off down the Catapult, detaching the Power Cable as it goes. It jumps off the end of the Catapult and the Aile pack's wings fold open, the Strike's Phase Shift Armour coming to life as it does so.

Meanwhile, Flay simply stands in the corridors of the Archangel with a blank expression.

* * *

**Battle…**

Things are not going well for the Advance Forces as one of the GINNs has made it within their perimeter and is laying waste to the defending Moebius with its Recoiless Rifle. The remaining Drake-Class and Nelson-Class are unable to protect their allies as the GINNs systematically slaughter the helpless Mobile Armours.

One Moebius was unfortunate enough to, while firing at a GINN with its Missiles, be landed on by one of the GINNs and be blasted at point-blank range. Another is blasted by a GINN's Recoiless Rifle as it tries to fly in for a kill.

Luckily, for the remaining Advance Forces, the Archangel arrives within the Field of battle and does not hesitate to provide assistance, its weapons already fully armed.

"Valiant One and Valiant Two, fire!" Natarle orders from the CIC.

The two yellow bursts of kinetic energy zoom towards the battlefield. One of them catches one of the standard GINN pilots off-guard and his Mobile Suit is torn apart by the blast. This was fortunate, as it was making its way towards the Nelson-Class' bridge. The bridge crew breathe a sigh of relief at the sight.

"The Archangel…?" The Captain exclaims.

"They've come to help us!" George declares with a relieved tone while the Captain clenches his fist and hits his chair's arm in annoyance.

"They shouldn't have!" He mutters.

Elsewhere, the Nazca-Class Vesalius comes into range of the combat zone, preparing its own weapons for the skirmish.

"The main character has made an appearance." Rau remarks, "Don't waste your time on the small fry!"

At that moment, Miguel tears through the Drake-Class' defence turrets, giving Athrun an opportunity to destroy the ship as he flies from the side and lets out a blast from the Impulse Cannon, located in the central area of the Aegis' Mobile Armour form, and blows a whole in the Drake-Class the beam, drilling its way all through the ship and out the other side as Athrun flies away while Miguel, to add insult to injury, lets off a stream of bullets as he flies alongside the Drake-Class, leaving a horizontal trail of dents in the ship's armour. Athrun and Miguel looks at the damaged ship for a second before their sensors alert them to a contact. He looks to see the Strike flying directly towards him and Miguel. He gasps a little as Kira grits his teeth while Miguel grins a little.

"There you are, Strike!" He remarks.

Athrun transforms his Aegis back into its Mobile Suit form and charges at the Strike. They fly past each other while he and Kira let off a Beam Rifle shots at each other. Unfortunately, Kira does not get much chance to recover as he's forced to raise his, instinctively, to deflect a burst of Machine Gun bullets from Miguel's GINN who attacks him from behind.

"What the…!" Kira remarks as he turns to look at it, "An orange GINN with a shield? Is that the Custom Type Miriallia was talking about?"

"Watch out, Kid!" Mu calls over the communicator.

"Lieutenant La Flaga?" Kira asks with wonder.

"I've fought that bastard before when me, a fleet and a large platoon of Moebius were ordered to retake a Station that ZAFT took from us!" Mu explains, dodging a shot from a Recoiless Rifle "It was supposed to be easy, just a small squad of GINNs. Unfortunately, that GINN was there and tore through the Moebius and Ships practically by himself!" Mu finishes as his communicator goes short. Kira's eyes widen at that.

"Does that mean that GINN's pilot is an…" Kira pauses, "Ace Pilot?!"

Elsewhere, Mu engages in combat with the two GINNs attacking the now alone Nelson-Class. He dodges a round from one of the GINN's Recoiless Rifles and deploys his Gunbarrels. He lets off a volley and one of the weapons hit the GINN from behind, causing it to be stunned. Unfortunately, the other GINN quickly comes into support his comrade. Mu attempts to flee, but the GINN's superior thrusters manages to get the Mobile Suit point blank range to the left of the Zero. He gasps a little before attempting to scare off the GINN with a volley of Gunbarrel blasts. The attacks succeed in damaging the GINN who staggers away. Unfortunately, the GINN still manages to get off a shot and damage the Moebius Zero.

"Dammit!" Mu remarks as the engines on his Mobile Armour start to sputter, "I'm helpless in this condition."

Miguel's GINN chases after Kira, letting off a barrage of bullets as he chases the Strike. Kira continues to deflect them with his shield when he is forced avert his shield away to block beam rifle shots from the Aegis. Miguel grins at the sight.

"Keep him like that, Athrun!" Miguel orders him.

"Right!"

Miguel then raises his Machine Gun at the Strike and lets loose. Unfortunately for Kira, Miguel fires the rocket located on his Grenade Launcher as well as the entire Missile from his Leg-Mounted Missile Launchers directly at the Strike. Since he was being suppressed by the Aegis and its Beam Rifle, he can only turn the Strike at the very last second and is unable to shoot any of the missiles down. They all impact against the shield and heavily damage it. Unfortunately, he felt the impact and was forced to let go of the brutally damaged shield.

"Now, Athrun!" Miguel orders, causing Athrun to hesitate.

"B-but…!" Athrun responds.

"You said you were ready, right?" Miguel asks rhetorically, "Then help me take out the Strike. If you're uncomfortable with dealing the killing just try and disable it. If you're not gonna help me, then get out the Aegis and let me use it!" The communicator goes silent for a second. Athrun's next action is answer enough for Miguel.

He transforms into his Mobile Armour form and lets off a blast from his Impulse Cannon. Kira, luckily manages to avoid the blast but it still connects with his Beam Rifle, leaving Kira unarmed, forcing him to fly backwards and retreat. He unleashes a volley of his CIWS to try and deter them but they both easily evade the attack.

Meanwhile, Rau watches this skirmish with vested interest.

* * *

**Archangel…**

Flay Allster has just stumbled onto the bridge of the Archangel as an overriding concern over her father compelled her to come.

"Gottfried Number One, aim and fire!" Natarle commands.

"Where's Lieutenant La Flaga?" Murrue queries.

"The Zero's returning!" Miriallia informs the Captain, "It's taken structural damage!"

"A missile's been shot from the Vesalius!" Jackie informs the bridge crew, "It's heading for the Law!"

"Dammit!" Natarle grinds through her teeth as Flay enters the bridge which Kuzzey notices.

"Flay?" Kuzzey calls to her with a confused tone, alerting the bridge crew to the girl's presence.

"Flay?" Sai calls out as he gets out from his station to meet her as she continues to move further into the bridge.

"Papa… where's papa's ship?" She asks with fear.

"We're in a battle!" Murrue addresses her with a stern tone, "Non-combatants are not to enter the bridge!"

"Which one's papa's ship?" She asks with fear and an aggressive tone.

"Flay!" Sai tries to calm her down, pulling her back away from the bridge.

"Stop it! Let me go!" She protests. At that moment, a large flash erupts from the screen which causes her to pause for a second. They all look to see the already heavily-damaged Drake-Class be blasted by the Nazca-Class' Missile. The sight scares Flay to no end as the split second of fear that that was her father's ship overcame her.

"The Law's been sunk!" Dalida calls out.

"Flay, come on!" Sai urges her, trying to make her leave the bridge, "You mustn't be here, come on!" She lets out a few protesting gasps before Sai manages to pull her out of the Bridge.

"Two GINNs are heading towards the Montgomery!" Jackie calls out. "One Mobile Armour left!"

At that moment, Sai and Flay leave through the door and it shuts behind them, Flay still having a shocked expression.

"Flay!" Sai calls to her, trying to raise her from her distressed state.

"Where's that boy, Kira?" She asks Sai, clawing at his shoulders in distress. "What's he doing?"

"He's fighting the best he can." Sai assures her, "But he's fighting the Aegis and an Ace GINN, so things aren't going smoothly." He looks away in guilt.

"But he told that everything was gonna be okay!" She declares, her tone becoming more and more aggressive. "He said it'll be okay because, as he said 'We'll be there too'!"

At that moment, Miguel and Athrun both put their Beam Rifle and Machine Gun away and draw their melee weapons, in order to save power (Aegis) and ammo (GINN). Miguel brandishes his Heavy Sword and Athrun ignites one of the beam emitters on his arm. They both charge at the Strike and Kira, in retaliation, brandishes both of his Beam Sabres and clashes with both Miguel's Heavy Sword and Athrun's Beam Emmiter simultaneously (One Beam Sabre for each). Kira struggles to not be forced back by them. Luckily, the Drake-Class then explodes very close to them. To avoid damage, the three all break the clash and fly away from each other to avoid damage from the explosion.

While this happened, Sai escorted a distraught Flay back to the crew Quarters, keeping her close in his arms to comfort the girl.

"Everything will be fine, okay?" He assures her as she lets out small cries, "Your dad's ship is fine alright?" An massive vibration is then felt through the ship as Sai loosens his grip on the emotionally unstable girl. She tries to run back towards the bridge, but Sai grabs her in time, "Flay!" He scolds her.

"No! I'm also…" She cries out continuing to struggle in his arms, "Let me go! Let me go!"

"Flay!"

Their rather heated interaction is quickly cut short as they both start to hear a singing voice from one of the nearby quarters. This was, of course, Lacus Clyne attempting to bring some light to the situation with her singing voice.

"That girl…" Sai realises. Flay narrows her eyebrows and starts to walk towards the source of the voice, "Flay!" He calls after her but she pays him no need and advances on the door. Lacus continues to sing until the door slides open, revealing Flay and Sai stood there as Flay looks at her with a determined expression.

* * *

**Battle…**

The GINN that was currently assaulting battered Nelson-Class avoids a few blasts from the last Moebius' Linear Gun before dispatching the Mobile Armour with its Recoiless Rifle with ease, the Mobile Armour spiralling out of control before exploding.

Worse news is brought forth as the Nazca-Class has come into range of the lone Nelson-Class and proceeds to open fire with its Dual Beam Cannons.

"Prepare to fire Lohengrin!" Natarle orders from the Archangel's bridge, "A GINN's coming! Where's the Strike?!"

"Captain!" Mu calls out to Murrue through the small communicator on the Captain's chair, "It's useless! We gotta get out of here if we don't want to get destroyed!"

"But…" Murrue trails as she refers to the Strike.

Said Mobile Suit just clashes swords briefly with Miguel's GINN before they boost away from each other. Unfortunately, the Strike does not notice the beam of red light from Athrun's Impulse Cannon until its too late and he's only able to slightly boost forward. The Red Beam incinerates the Aile Pack, forcing Kira to detach it, lest it explode (luckily, the Archangel has a spare) and flee away as Miguel and Athrun give chase.

The GINN attacking the Nelson-Class manages to get a lucky shot and decimate the battered ship's main Beam Cannon, the large fixed gun emplacement completely exploding.

"Main turret's been hit!" One of the bridge crew cries out in terror.

"Engine section damaged!" Another Bridge Crew-member calls out in a similar tone of terror, "Sealing bulkheads!"

"What are they doing?!" George exclaims with a terrified tone, "Why can't they shoot down a single GINN?!"

"Vice Minister, proceed to the Lifepod!" The Captain commands him with an urgent tone.

Athrun slices at the Strike but misses as Kira manages to thrust the Machine upwards, letting off a volley of CIWS shots as he goes. Unfortunately, he walks into another problem as he's impacted from behind as Miguel's GINN sliced at the Strike's back with the Heavy Sword in horizontal motion. It's good that the weapon is unable to penetrate Phase Shift Armour or it would have sliced clean through. Athrun charges at him with his Beam Emitter, but Kira blocks it with both Beam Sabres. He forces the Aegis back before swinging around and kicking the GINN to the side of the head. He goes for a downward slash, but Miguel's GINN manages to deflect it with his shield. Instead of continuing the assault, Kira quickly boosts away while they are both stunned.

Unfortunately, another problem is about to develop on the Archangel as the door slides open to reveal Flay dragging Lacus by the arm. This manages to alert the whole bridge to her presence as even Murrue and Natarle turn to look at her.

"I'll kill this girl!" Flay declares passionately, "If they fire at my papa's ship, I'll kill this girl!" She declares as Lacus looks at her with a fearful expression, "Tell them that!"

At that moment, Sai enters the bridge.

"Flay!" He calls to her in an angered manner.

"Tell them!" She declares.

Ultimately, however, it is too late as the Nazca-Class lets off a blast from its Dual Beam Cannons. Both GINNs evade out of the way as the two large beams of light collide with the Nelson-Class, the metal around the beams becoming warped from the heat. All of the Archangel crew watch with surprised expressions. Meanwhile, George lets out a scream of terror as he realises that his death is at hand. The beams pass through the ship and the Nelson-Class explodes. Both GINNs fly away and set their new target for the Archangel.

Flay lets out a loud scream at the sight as she drifts back from Lacus. Sai grabs hold of her from behind and pulls her into his arms, all the while, she continues to scream as a distressed expression is clear on her face. Lacus also looks at her with a saddened expression.

Unfortunately, their troubles still have not ended as the two GINNs get closer and closer to the Archangel.

"Captain!" Natarle addresses Murrue, hoping for a command. She doesn't get one so takes off her communicator, floats out of the CIC Commander's chair and grabs the Main Communicator from Kuzzey.

"Ensign Badgiruel?" Murrue calls after her with a confused tone.

"Attention, ZAFT Forces!" Natarle calls over the communicator, "This is the Archangel of the Earth Alliance Forces!"

"It's a broadcast on all frequencies from the Legged Ship!" The Vesalius' Communications Officer informs the bridge.

"Currently, in the care of this ship, is PLANT Supreme Council Chairman Siegel Clyne's daughter, Lacus Clyne!"

That name caused Miguel and Athrun to stop chasing Kira who also stopped in his tracks as Kira gasps a little.

"What…?" Athrun mutters.

"How…?" Miguel trails.

"Miss Lacus…?" Ades wonders out loud.

"We came across a lifepod with her onboard and took her in for humanitarian purposes." Natarle explains over the communicator. "However, should you decide to attack this ship, we shall consider that as abandonment of your responsibilities to protect Lacus Clyne." Natarle declares, "We will then take care of this situation as we see fit!

"Bastards!" Athrun yells in anger.

"You gotta be shitting me!" Miguel exclaims.

Kira can only have a shocked expression on his face.

"I didn't expect this to happen." Mu remarks as he disembarks from the damaged Moebius Zero.

"What the hell happened up there for this to occur?" Cagalli wonders outloud.

"That's gotta feel awkward for them." Rau remarks, "They come to help, and once they find themselves in danger, they resort to this?"

"Commander!" Ades spoke to him.

"Yeah, I know." Rau agrees with his compatriot, "All forces, cease attack!"

"One last condition!" Natarle suddenly calls over the Communicator again, "Have all your GINN Mobile Suits leave behind all their weapons and ammunition!" This statement causes a few eyebrows to be raised.

"Why would they want with those?" Rau wonders to himself. "Well, Chairman Clyne wouldn't want his daughter to die." He mutters to himself. "All GINN pilots, drop your weapons and ammo!" Miguel's face appears on the bridge's communicator.

"Commander-"

"That includes you, Miguel." Rau smoothly cuts him off.

"But, sir-"

"You have a reserve custom machine gun onboard and I also requisitioned a couple of Heavy Swords that have an anti-beam coating applied so you won't be losing anything important." Rau smoothly counters him before the argument is made, Miguel goes silent for a second. "Is there a problem?"

"No, sir."

And with that, the two generic GINNs drop their Recoiless Rifles as well as their reserve rockets and Heavy Swords. Miguel (rather begrudgingly) drops his Custom Machine Gun, extra magazines and his Heavy Sword (Luckily, he gets to keep his shield). The GINNs then all start to fly back to the Vesalius.

On the Archangel, Sai has taken a distraught Flay back to her quarters. Natarle smoothly puts down the Communicator and eyes the Captain who looks at her with an annoyed expression.

"We cannot afford the Strike or the Archangel to be destroyed here." Natarle declares confidently, "We also have a Mobile Suit that has barely any weapons or ammo to go with it. I just solved both those problems.

"I know, Natarle." Murrue assures her.

"Someone!" Natarle calls out, "Someone take Miss Lacus back to her room."

And so, as a distressed Flay was fast asleep in her room, a terrified and disturbed Lacus Clyne was on her way back to her own.

* * *

_**And so that was chapter 9. I hope you all enjoyed it!**_

_**You know, after watching episode 9, I now realise how much of a badass Natarle actually is. I mean, she would make an infinitely better captain for the Archangel than Murrue. Murrue, I think, is too much of a mother figure to be an effective captain and isn't really stern enough as a captain. There's being a sympathetic captain and then there's just being soft. Guess which one Murrue is?**_

_**Before people start saying "Why the hell did you have Kira get the shit kicked out of him? That makes no sense!" I say this: Kira only really starts to get super serious as a pilot after the next battle. Before that, he lacked sufficient drive to be an effective pilot and was very much lucky with his circumstances (Mu saving him, Using Lacus etc…). Not to mention, he was fighting the Aegis AND a specialised GINN catered specifically to Miguel. At this point, that's a lot for Kira to handle.**_

_**Anyway, now the GINN has a sufficient stockpile of weapons! Wait to see what comes of that! It makes sense, to me, that she would do that sort of thing.**_

_**I know some people will remark at the lack of Cagalli in this episode. My response is this: What's there for her to do? I couldn't have her magically appear at the bridge when Flay loses her shit because she works in the Maintenance Bay. It wouldn't make much sense, would it? Don't worry, Cagalli will become much more prominent very soon. You won't be waiting another ten chapters, let me assure you of that, folks!"**_

_**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**_

_**R-0 Out!**_


End file.
